Hawkes youngster Exceedance has Rosehill Garden course abuzz after extraordinary finishing burst
Beaten into third place yet still the most talked about effort witnessed on course at Rosehill Gardens sums up the staggering finishing burst of Team Hawkes two-year-old Exceedance.
SuperRacing
Don't miss out on the headlines from SuperRacing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The jockey’s quote said it all: “He could be anything.”
That was Tommy Berry’s summation after he rode Exceedance — and they were beaten into third placing!
Splintex scored a deserved all-the-way win in the Southern Cross Turf Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens but it was the effort of Exceedance that caught everyone’s attention.
Exceedance doesn’t have a lot of gate speed and settled near last in a race run at a moderate early tempo.
Splintex reeled off an impressive closing 600m sectional of 33.59sec which was going to make it tough for anything chasing him to run him down — particularly Exceedance who was still 10 lengths from the lead at the 400m.
But Exceedance ($3.70 favourite) finished so fast, he got within a half length of Splintex ($7) and runner-up Rotator ($4.60) on the line; official margins being a short-head and a nose.
Berry has ridden two Golden Slipper winners (Overreach and Vancouver) and many top-class gallopers including champion Chautauqua, so he can speak with authority on a horse’s potential.
“To let down like he did, he is one of the nicest young horses I’ve ever ridden in my career,’’ Berry said.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him. He is a green animal and they have run home in 33.59sec so I don’t know what he has been able to sprint his final 600m in. But he is one of the horses that can quicken from the 400m, he can quicken at the 300m, again at the 200m, again at the 100, there is no bottom to him.
“Really, he could be anything.’’
Exceedance sprinted his final 600m in a staggering 32.21sec with successive 200m sectionals of 11.07sec, 10.51sec and 10.63sec.
Co-trainer Michael Hawkes took defeat on the chin, confirming Exceedance will be spelled.
“He’s a promising horse,’’ he said.
The focus on Exceedance is understandable but a little unfair to Splintex and the outstanding effort of trainer Mark Newnham.
In the space of 35 minutes, Newnham prepared a hat-trick of two-year-old winners: Shadow Hero (Listed Phoenix Stakes) and Diamond Thunder (Listed Oxlade Stakes) winning the opening two races at Doomben.
“Splintex is a little underrated,’’ Newnham said from Doomben.
“He’s a really good little horse and he wins his races in the first 100m. He jumps so quickly, puts himself right on the speed then relaxes under his rider.’’
Rachel King, rider of Splintex, echoed Newnham’s thoughts.
“His turn of foot is very good, quite electric,’’ she said. “You give him a squeeze and he takes off.
“He did begin quickly then relaxed well for me, pricked his ears and took a deep breath.
“This helped him at the back end of the race because he could feel them coming at him but kept finding that little bit extra he needed to win.’’
TERRY TERRIFIC ON THE ROAD
It’s fair to say Terry Robinson has joined the likes of Matthew Dunn, Matthew Dale and Danny Williams as a dominant force in the weekly Highway races after claiming his 11th win with Zardoro.
The Shoalhaven Heads trainer was looking for improvement from the five-year-old after running eighth and sixth since returning from a break.
And it was there as Zardoro sprinted quickly down the outside part of the straight to beat Vigorish by a long-neck with Assault’n’bathory third.
“I suppose his first-up run was disappointing but he was good last start,’’ Robinson said. “He just peaked on his run that day and Billy Owen thought he was looking for further so I was able to get a bit more wok into him.
“He got away on me a bit. He had a break (eight weeks) after he won his last Highway and he did too well and was flat at his first-up run then blew up big second-up.
“(Today) was run at a good tempo which really suited the horse. They ran along and it let him come home.”
Robinson would be right in thinking Zardoro will be even better over a little more ground next start and, soon after winning on Saturday, knew exactly where that would be.
“That’s his second Highway and I think he’s got another one in him,’’ he said. “There’s a 1500m race at Rosehill for him in two weeks and I’m looking forward to that.
“He probably should have a much better record than what he has but it’s just nice to see him win again. His owner John Starr has been one of my best owners, too.”
Jockey Sam Clipperton rode him well from barrier 12 and, knew if he got the breaks from the 400m, had the horse to go on with it from the back half of the field.
“It was a nice result from a wide draw,’’ Clipperton said. “He travelled nicely and let down well.
“I had a lot of horse underneath me at the top of the straight and then he fought hard so it was a good effort.”