The verdict: Baylee Nothdurft edges closer to Brisbane jockeys’ title after treble at Doomben
A refreshed Baylee Nothdurft went a long way towards stitching up the metropolitan jockeys’ premiership with a treble at Doomben, but he remains wary of his nearest challenger.
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A refreshed Baylee Nothdurft went a long way towards stitching up the metropolitan jockeys’ premiership with his winning treble at Doomben.
Nothdurft went into the day with a 9.5-win lead over Ryan Maloney and extended it by two as Maloney walked away with just one win, on Milk Man. No apprentice has won the Brisbane title since Michael Rodd and Zac Purton went toe-to-toe in 2002 and 2003.
Nothdurft has just served a 13-day suspension and took the opportunity to take a week off during that time to reset after a hectic season and constant work to keep his weight in check.
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“I certainly did (need a break). The last couple of weeks before the break it was just a bit hard,” he said. “When your weight starts to get out of hand a bit, which it did over those two weeks, the freshen up has helped a heap.
“I’ve come back feeling well, done a bit of time with family and it’s been good.”
Nothdurft admitted he’s been watching Maloney closely over the past fortnight as he edged into his lead with six winners.
“Me and Ryan get along really good. We’re good mates,” Nothdurft said. “But to see him winning on those things of Tony’s (Gollan), I was thinking ‘that could be me’.
“Hopefully I can get a couple more on the board and extend my lead.”
Extend he did, as Howwonderfullifeis, The Actuary and Say Haya rolled home for him on Saturday.
Pretty messy
The Pretty In Pink saga has a lot to play out yet, not the least being the subject of prizemoney and the potential redistribution to other parties.
It is understood Pretty In Pink’s connections have been paid for the win by Racing Queensland, who were given the green light to pay by QRIC.
Should the mare be stripped of the win, those funds will need to be recouped from Pretty In Pink’s owners and then redistributed to the other placegetters.
Pretty In Pink’s owners Segenhoe Stud have spoken publicly at their frustration of how long this event has taken to be revealed.
There surely can be no excuses for a positive swab taking that long to be revealed, let alone the time yet to elapse for the inquiry to be held.
Let’s say for example Pretty In Pink had been sold by the Segenhoe Group. Her new owners would have a genuine damages claim, having paid a premium for a Group 2 winner that will in all likelihood be stripped of that status.
As it is, Segenhoe remain the major party that will lose out of the situation.
There is a concession within the walls of QRIC that this indeed did take too long and should have been dealt with much sooner.
It’s all very messy and hardly reflective of a well-oiled integrity machine.
Separate to QRIC, the snail-like appeal process continues to cause angst right across the industry.
Slow return for punters
The new COVID-safe plan for race clubs is unlikely to make a huge difference to on-course patronage until stage three comes in late next month.
BRC chief executive Tony Partridge said the stage two protocols are still difficult in terms of getting people through the turnstiles.
“Multiple gatherings of 20 is pretty impractical, so we expect it will be owners and members at midweeks and Saturdays,” he said.
“We don’t expect a real crowd until July 25, which is our first Saturday after stage three kicks in. The track won’t be open to the public until stage three and even then it will be after member and owner bookings.”
This week owners will be given the opportunity to register their interest in attending both by phone and online and the club will start taking bookings, with all who attend needing to be seated in a designated area.
The BRC expects to be able to accommodate 20 owners per race from Wednesday, with capacity increasing to potentially 300 in total from stage three.
“Members will also have a booking system and we will open up as many rooms as we can,” Partridge said. “We are still looking at crowds of less than 1000 for the next two months.
“I’d say we’re thankful the industry plan is approved, but would have liked to receive permission to have one per four square metres across the venue.
“We’re watching with interest what is permitted with regards to bar service at stadiums and would think a racetrack would be able to do the same.”
Quiet celebrations
COVID-19 restrictions meant Vicki Heathcote was celebrating her birthday at home with friends on Saturday rather than at the races, but she was given extra reason to party when Stuttering, a horse she part-owns, landed the money at Doomben.
Trainer Rob Heathcote gave a shout out to his wife post-race and tipped more to come from Stuttering, who was able to overcome a three wide run throughout.
“The big thing is the ability to handle a heavy track. He’d had one go and been quite impressive and he backed it up today,” Heathcote said.
Byrne banned
Jim Byrne has started a seven-day suspension after copping a week for his ride on Roasted on Saturday. He can resume riding next Sunday.
Brad Stewart was fined $1500 for using the whip eight times before the 100m on Outburst. Stewards considered a suspension, but noted he did not use the whip at all in the last 100m.
Justin Huxtable ($500), Steph Lacy and Jackson Murphy (both $300) also incurred fines relating to the whip rule on Saturday.
Endless Days retired
Hulbert Racing announced the retirement of Endless Days after his unplaced run at Doomben. Stakes placed at two, he won races in four different seasons and earned more than $300,000.