NewsBite

Mitch Cohen’s Blackbook: Five to follow, sectional date from Golden Eagle day

Racenet journalist and form analyst Mitch Cohen dissects all the action from Saturday’s $10 million Golden Eagle card at Rosehill Gardens.

Mitch Cohen
4 min read
November 3, 2024 - 1:51PM
Lake Forest (left, blue and white cap) won a thrilling Golden Eagle. Picture: Jeremy Ng / Getty Images
Lake Forest (left, blue and white cap) won a thrilling Golden Eagle. Picture: Jeremy Ng / Getty Images

English raider Lake Forest arrived in the nick of time to win the $10 million Golden Eagle while Bella Nipotina showed why she’s considered the best sprinter in the land in the Russell Balding Stakes at Rosehill Gardens.

Racenet’s Mitch Cohen reveals the best runs from Saturday’s blockbuster card.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

FIVE TO FOLLOW

VILLASAURUS (1st of 12, Race 1)
The Donna Scott-trained gelding is still only lightly-raced but was brilliant making his winning return in the Highway Handicap. He’s in for a great prep before aiming up at the Country Champs early next year.

HARLOW MIST (5th of 20, Race 5)
She had to weave through the field in the Four Pillars Midway before only finishing just a length off the winner, hitting the line well. She’s returned in good order and a wins not far away.

FLYING CRAZY (7th of 11, Race 7)
Beaten a touch over five lengths by Bella Nipotina is far from disgraced for a horse racing well above his grade. It was a great return from the Hawkes Racing galloper so look out for him in easier grade next time.

PORT LOCKROY (6th of 20, Race 8)
Went around at 100-1 in the Golden Eagle but performed well above those odds finishing just over two lengths off the winner. It’s a hot race and plenty of winners will come out of it. He’s one of them.

BULLETS HIGH (2nd of 9, Race 10)
Swap the runs and he probably beats Battleton in the final event on the program but just missed. Joe Pride has this bloke going great and tipping he will only get better as he gets over more ground.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

STEWARDS SAY

Gitalong (8th of 9, Race 6): Found to be 1/5 lame in the off-foreleg post-race and will be required to be cleared by vets before racing or trials again.

King Of Sparta (6th of 11, Race 7): Hampered in the run by Sunshine In Paris. Was found to be 4/5 lame in the off-foreleg and was transported to Randwick Equine Centre for further treatment.

Lazzat (2nd of 20, Race 8): Was shifted out abruptly on by Lake Forest in his final strides resulting in the latter’s jockey Cieren Fallon being found guilty of careless riding. Lazzat’s jockey Antonio Orani was also suspended for shifting out, causing Stefi Magnetica to blunder.

Ascoli Piceno (12th of 20, Race 8): Jockey Joao Moreira thought the mare’s performance had been impacted by slight crowing at the start but was at a loss to explain her finishing effort. A post-race veterinary examination found the mare to be coughing.

Wyclif (2nd of 12, Race 9): Jockey Jason Collett fired in a protest against the winner Fawkner Park, who drifted out under pressure and took him off his line. Stewards couldn’t be satisfied it impacted the result.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

CRUNCH TIME

Kingston Charm (1st of 20, Race 5): Landing in the second half of the field, he made up a stack of ground on the fence with a race best 34.69 seconds last 600m to win the Four Pillars. His 11.83 final furlong was decisive.

Sunshine In Paris (2nd of 11, Race 7): Left with too much to do to run down the brilliant Bella Nipotina despite clocking her last 600m in a tidy 33.86 seconds. It was a half -second faster than the winner, who produced an effort of sustained speed.

Lake Forest (1st of 20, Race 8): Settling the back couple of runners, the Golden Eagle surged home along the fence with a last 600m of 34.13 seconds. His last furlong of 11.56 was a race best and won him the feature.

Lazzat (2nd of 20, Race 8): The French galloper was slowly away in the feature and had to be used up with a 10.54 seconds sectional between the 1400m to the 1200m to find the front. He kept finding in the straight, running his last 600m was 35.65 seconds.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

TRACK TALK
“To pull this off, it’s unbelievable…unbelievable. I would have to say it up there with the best wins we have had.” — William Haggas on Lake Forest.

“To ride for the boss, he places his horses very well, I think he’s the best in the world at it.” — Cieren Fallon on Haggas.

“She’s just an absolute marvel. She just loves racing.” — Johann Gerard-Dubord on Bella Nipotina.

“It’s not the fact that she’s speeding past them, it’s just that they’re stopping before she does.” — Craig Williams on Bella Nipotina.

“Sydney just hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for me but this is big today.” — Donna Scott after Villasaurus’ win.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

YOU CAN BET ON IT

RUSSELL BALDING STAKES
Bella Nipotina tightened from $11 into $9 for next year’s TAB Everest with the heavily backed favourite holding just under half the amount of total outlays despite a pre-race drift from $2.20 to $2.50 for patient punters. Big bets included a $15000 investment at $2.30 plus, multiple $3500, $3000, $2500 and $2000 bets at $2.50, two $4000 takes at $2.40 and several $2500 and $2000 outlays at $2.30.

GOLDEN EAGLE
Ascoli Piceno jumped as $3.10 favourite and held a third of TAB investments including a $98000 outlay at $4.60. In contrast Lake Forest took barely 2%. The best bets for the winner were $500 each-wat at $34/$8, $150 each-wat at $31/$8 and $200 straight at $26.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

THE SCHEDULE
Monday: Ballina, Corowa
Tuesday: Royal Randwick, Kembla Grange, Dubbo, Moruya, Murwillumbah, Tamworth
Wednesday: Grafton
Thursday: Albury
Friday: Hawkesbury
Saturday: Rosehill Gardens, Wyong, Goulburn, Broken Hill
Sunday: Armidale, Warren

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

RON DUFFICY’S ROSEHILL GARDENS SNAPSHOT

RUN OF THE DAY
How can you go past this marvellous mare in Bella Nipotina running sizzling time to victory. She is just a classic case of a mare enjoying racing and producing the goods at the top level.

FORGET THEY RAN
The Golden Eagle produced a couple of hard luck tales. Stefi Magnetica was coming with momentum and it was a situation that we will never know if she would have stayed on the fence while Lazzat was unbelievable considering he was slow out and used before being softened up and he still gave his all.

THE BLACK BOOK
Allapercanto (3rd, Race 2) was unsuited by a slow tempo and has come up well. Stablemates Lady Laguna (3rd, Race 7) and Port Lockroy (6th, Race 8) are flying if they can find their right races while Bullets High (2nd, Race 10) had to make his run on the wrong part of the track and has plenty of raw talent.

RIDE OF THE DAY
Tristate (1st, Race 6) looks an easy horse to ride but Tom Sherry was smart enough to read the play when others pushed on to make a winning move taking the sit. I think he’s maturing into a good rider.

Originally published as Mitch Cohen’s Blackbook: Five to follow, sectional date from Golden Eagle day

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/horse-racing/nsw-racing/mitch-cohens-blackbook-five-to-follow-sectional-date-from-golden-eagle-day/news-story/486c63b9acb8d9cc361b3d57894da220