Doug Gorrel-trained runner backed from $101 to $12 at Wagga on Monday

Some canny punters will hoping a horse, which has firmed from $101 to $12, can get the cash at Wagga on Monday.

Trainer Doug Gorrel and jockey Kayla Nisbet after the win of Asgarda in the Newhaven Park Country Championships final at Randwick. Picture: Bradley Photos

Reigning Country Championship Final-winning trainer Doug Gorrel admits he doesn’t quite yet know what to make of the aptly-named Lost Ya Sock but he likes her all the same.

So do some lucky and canny punters who took the $101 on offer on Saturday with the TAB Fixed Odds who had slashed quote down to $12 on Sunday.

All will be revealed on Monday if Lost Ya Sock gains a start in the Rollers/Mocrib Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1200m) at Wagga.

“She is a lovely horse,’’ Gorrel told The Daily Telegraph.

“She is her own worst enemy in many ways but she does have ability and when she clicks, she will be a nice horse but I do think she will probably need 1400m.

“In saying that, if it is a bit heavy and a bit chopped up, it will race a bit like a further trip than 1200m.’’

Lost Ya Sock is as flashy as she is untapped.

A chestnut like her father, Star Turn, Lost Ya Sock has white socks on all four legs, bar one, hence the name.

Lost Ya Sock was born and raised at Vinery Stud and was purchased by Gorrel at the 2023 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for a not insignificant sum of $80,000.

A grand-daughter of 2000 Light Fingers Stakes winner Rock Me Baby, Lost Ya Sock managed to beat only one home on debut at Wagga on February 8 but with excuses.

“She was just a week over the top actually,’’ Gorrel explained.

“She probably should have been in the paddock but we got so far, we thought we would push on and see how she went. Drawn poorly in a good race, it wasn’t her day.’’

Gorrel will saddle-up one of the main fancies on the eight-race Wagga card when Sorry Sunshine resumes in the Tooheys Battlers Cup (1300m).

“It is a Benchmark 50 race and it has been divided,’’ the trainer says., “And I tend to think we are possibly in the easier division.

“He loves Wagga (but) just maybe 1300m first-up on a Heavy 9 or 10, might play closer to a 1400m.

“He just may knock-up but we have poured plenty of work in with him so I am happy with him. He’ll be right there. He’ll be a top three chance for sure. I would rather him on a Soft 6 or something but he ran a nice race at his only run on the heavy. And he is only a light little fellow, he’ll get through it alright.’’

Both of Gorrel’s Wagga participants will be ridden by his former boom apprentice Molly Bourke who is days away from signing off on a specularly successful 2023/24 season.

“It is richly deserved,’’ Gorrel said.

“Molly works so hard and just loves it, she is so competitive. It’s great to see her kicking goals, it really is a big thrill.

“She’s loves riding in races. She’d ride in 10 races a day if you’d let her.’’

Sorry Sunshine is well known to Bourke who was aboard when the grandson of Danehill shed his maiden status in a 1400m race at home at Wagga in May last year.

Gorrel meanwhile tabelled a glowing report on his 2024 Country Championship winner Asgarda who now has her sights set on the $2 million ATC Kosciuszko (1200m) on October 19.

“Next week will be her third week back in (the stable),’’ Gorrel said.

“We’re just poking along nice and slow, just slow work and getting her fit. She looks like a really happy horse.’’

TAYLA’S TIME TO SHINE

Trainer Tim McIntosh has crafted a perfect scenario for his whirlwind finisher Tayla The Sailor to finally secure herself an well-overdue but equally well-deserved first win at Gunnedah on Monday.

The Kingstar Farm bred three-year-old remains winless after 10 starts but to her credit, she has placed in half of them.

On top of that, the Muswellbrook housed galloper was a creditable five lengths behind subsequent Woodlands Stakes winner Hip Hip Hurrah in the Miss Finland run at home in April last year.

Tayla The Sailor’s Monday mission is the 1250m Donoghue Property Valuations Maiden Plate which she tackles second-up after a close and closing third at Dubbo over 1100m.

“I think the wet track didn’t really help her a whole lot last start and she was five weeks between runs,’’ McIntosh says.

“She attacked the line really well which is what you like to see and I think the 1250m suits her better as well. I think she will go close on Monday, all going well.’’

McIntosh will combine with Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap-winning rider Blake Spriggs at Gunnedah via an interesting first starter in the Ultra Fleet Maiden Plate (1000m) by the name of Ivy Diva.

“She trialled well and we expect a forward showing from her,’’ McIntoish told The Daily Telegraph.

“She probably just needs the race experience on her side going forward but she should run a good race.’’

Ivy Diva is a blueblood of global proportions given she is a fifth generation direct descendant of Franfreluche who is best known in our region as the ancestor of Flying Spur and Encosta de Lago.

Ivy Diva is a daughter of one of the most underrated stallions on the national roster in Sebring Sun who stands at Glenthorne Park outside of Taree on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

“One of my mates owns him,’’ McIntosh said.

“He hasn’t had that good horse to put him out there yet but his runners to winners strike rate is really good.’’

Sebring Sun was trained by two-times Golden Slipper winner Gary Portelli.

Himself a son of the 2008 Slipper winner Sebring, Portelli’s colt’s primary win came in the 2015 ATC The Rosebud (1200m) .

His following two starts were both thirds, one in the Up And Coming, the other behind Exosphere and Speak Fondly in the Group 1 ATC Golden Rose (1400m).

Originally published as Doug Gorrel-trained runner backed from $101 to $12 at Wagga on Monday