Jockey Bubba Tilley and trainer Charlotte White secure first stakes win with Spurcraft
Jockey Bubba Tilley had waited 18 months for another shot at a stakes race win with Charlotte White’s talented Spurcraft — and he didn’t disappoint in the Listed Bribie Handicap.
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Bubba Tilley had waited 18 months for Saturday’s Bribie Handicap to come around with Spurcraft and he made certain at Doomben on Saturday it was going to be a different postscript for the Charlotte White-trained gelding this time around.
Spurcraft notched a maiden stakes win, which was also a first for Tilley and White.
He has won nine of his 14 starts, but his only other attempt in stakes grade resulted in a second, where he was run down in the final few bounds in the Chief De Beers in May last year.
“I stuffed up the Chief De Beers and took the rap for that,” he said. “Today I counted to 15, I counted to 20 …”
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Tilley bided his time on Saturday and Spurcraft was in a different league, burning off Tycoon Ace and then having a big margin to spare over Badajoz on the line.
“He’s just a machine,” Tilley said. “Now he can breathe, he’s a lot more confident.
“I could hear him breathing at the 800m and it gave me plenty of confidence. He went through his gears and at about the 250m when he had plenty left, I knew we were home.
“It gives me a lot of confidence heading to the Falvelon.”
Spurcraft has had throat surgery since he last raced and now he will try and conquer a new frontier, when he runs in the 1200m Falvelon on December 21.
White said she had been doing a lot of work trying to get Spurcraft to relax in his races and the camp are confident he can cope with the extra 150m across the road in a fortnight.
“His gallops at home have been very good and he was very calm today,” White said.
“We will go to the Falvelon now and try and get him into the Magic Millions.”
Never in doubt for Bribie Handicap favourite Spurcraft!
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 7, 2019
An elated Les Tilley expresses his emotion as he crosses the line 🙌🙌🙌 @racing_qld @DoombenRacing pic.twitter.com/ocP6Yy35sJ
The Falvelon is a wildcard race for the Magic Millions Snippets on January 11.
Spurcraft is raced by Noel and Sue Rogers, their son Andrew and his wife Ebony.
He was born at the family property near Pittsworth and is the result of a free return the mare Carnivale Queen had to Jet Spur.
“We had a full-brother to him but he only lived 10 minutes, so I rang Steve Morley at Glenlogan Park Stud and he said ‘bring her straight back.’ Spurcraft is the result,” Noel Rogers said.
“I was probably a bit too confident, but I said he would win by three lengths. With the wind operation, I knew he wasn’t going to stop.”
It was a sweet way for Tilley to close out what started as an ordinary day.
He pleaded guilty to causing interference on Romakash in the staying race earlier in the day and was outed for 11 days.
He now has to juggle that suspension around his Spurcraft commitments.
Niccanova leans on raw talent
Niccanova has never really furnished from the time he was a three-year-old, according to his trainer Steve Tregea, but the raw ability carried him to a third stakes success in the Listed Brisbane Handicap at Doomben.
Niccanova won the Group 3 Fred Best at his fifth start in a race in May 2017 and has only been sparingly raced since. He also won last year’s Listed Recognition Stakes.
“He’s still the same weight today as what he was when he was a three-year-old,” Tregea said.
“He needs to get the right run. If he’s wide and back he doesn’t like it, but when he can be given a soft run, he can really hit the line.”
Lovely ride from @JimmyOrman who piloted Niccanova to a win in the Listed @tabcomau Brisbane Handicap for Steve Tregea @DoombenRacing @racing_qld pic.twitter.com/5jGN8HZCuP
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 7, 2019
Jimmy Orman has been aboard in all three of Niccanova’s black-type wins.
“He’s been a good horse to me. He’s been unlucky in a couple of those runs. He’s a horse that needs a bit of luck because he’s a get-back horse,” he said. “If he gets the luck he can run over the top of them and he got that today.”
Orman suggested Niccanova was ready to go to a new frontier and be tested over more ground.
“The way he won, he gave me the feel of a horse who will get a bit further,” he said.
Matt McGillivray said third-placed The Candy Man had his chance, but would be better served on a bigger track. “If it was Eagle Farm he would have still picked them up,” he said.
Earlier, Orman finally got on the right leg with Equipped when the pair prevailed in a tight finish to land the Benchmark 75 Handicap (2200m).
“He’s been flying on the track this horse, working like an open-company sprinter,” Orman said.
“He was in a couple of weeks ago and Chris (Anderson) asked me if I wanted to ride him or Dixie Preacher. I told Chris I wanted to ride Equipped, but he drew 15 and went to the Gold Coast and won there instead. Plus Dixie Preacher won here, so I missed out on both counts.
“Thankfully, I was able to get on him today.”
Equipped races in the colours of the late Dato Tan Chin Nam and the names on the owners’ list also include Sir Patrick Hogan and Eduardo Cojuangco’s Gooree Stud.
“I have to thank Duncan Ramage at Think Big Stud for the opportunity to train horses like this,” Anderson said. “Like a lot of horses, he reached his mark down south and we’re the beneficiary of him coming to Queensland.”
Kacy Fogden landed another city winner for Aquis Farm when She’s Furline won first-up at juicy odds ($13-$19).
Fogden said She’s Furline disappointed in a Sunshine Coast trial last month, but she took the mare back to the farm, put blinkers on and she worked very well on Tuesday.
Fogden, who trained V J Day to win at big odds last month, said she had 10 horses in work.
Tempo right for Frangipani Moon
David Vandyke received two unexpected surprises at Doomben, culminating in quirky mare Frangipani Moon landing a bonus stakes success in the Listed Inglis Just Now Quality.
It was only two starts ago the Spirit Of Boom mare was throwing her head all over the place, hating the soft tempo of a Benchmark 70 at Ipswich, where she finished third of five.
On Saturday, ridden confidently by Jake Bayliss, it was a different story, relishing the hot speed and finishing over the top of leader Shalwa.
“In those lesser grade races, she resents when they go slow, but I think she goes better up in grade like today when they run along at a more genuine tempo,” Vandyke said.
“She hasn’t been easy. She’s been a hard one – she has a mind of her own like a lot of good females do – but she just did it perfectly today.
Frangipani Moon increases her value as a mare getting black type as she wins the @inglis_sales Fillies and Mares in the last at @DoombenRacing for trainer David Vandyke and @jakebayliss94 pic.twitter.com/So1bPCXGlp
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 7, 2019
“Jake put in a 10 out of 10. He rode for luck and, wow, she’s a stakes winner.”
Frangipani Moon was bred and is raced by Dr David Pascoe from the Oakey Vet Hospital and his wife Heather. “The Pascoes have been great supporters of not only mine, but for Queensland racing,” Vandyke said.
Bayliss was confident after seeing the mare parade, and how relaxed she felt in the preliminary. “I thought we would be a little bit closer, but the tempo was on and it worked out really good,” he said.
“The day started out a bit sour, getting beaten on a favourite (Mass Destruction) and not one of my greatest rides. So a bit of a dampener to start the day and a good finish. She was travelling throughout and, the top of the straight, it was a matter of if I had a bit of luck.
■ Smart Meteor’s win in the Eagle Way QTIS Handicap revived fond memories for trainer Chris Munce, who produced a terrific training feat to land the gelding a winner.
Smart Meteor was a last-start winner over 1300m at Toowoomba before Munce stepped him up to the 2000m on Saturday. He will now be given his chance to tackle the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes (2200m) at Eagle Farm in a fortnight.
“Being by Smart Missile worried me a bit, but he’s from a really good family that I used to know well from when I was working at Gai Waterhouse’s,” Munce said.
Indeed, Smart Meteor’s second dam is the Group 1 Australasian Oaks winner Tempest Morn, who Munce had one ride on for one win.
“Against their own age they can stay, but sometimes against all comers they get found out, so I was happy to run him (at the trip) against his own age,” Munce said.
Mosshiki, who eased to start $2.50 after being $4-$2.20 during the week, failed to finish strongly. “There was a run there if he was going well enough but he wasn’t,” jockey Brad Stewart said.
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