Solar Burst, Bracteate show true colours with strong wins at Doomben after Eagle Farm flops

THE Eagle Farm track became a talking point even as it lay unused on Wednesday as two recent flops on the track produced form reversals to win handsomely at Doomben.

Solar Burst stormed home to win at Doomben on Wednesday. Picture: Natasha Wood, Trackside Photography

THE Eagle Farm track became a talking point even as it lay unused on Wednesday as two recent flops on the track produced form reversals to win handsomely at Doomben.

Bracteate and Solar Burst had both been well-fancied when running way below expectations at Eagle Farm leading into Wednesday’s midweek fixture.

Eagle Farm has been a graveyard for many horses since its return and the winning efforts by this pair underlined how some gallopers just will not go on the testing new surface.

Tony Sears said he thought Solar Burst was close to a good thing when she ran first-up in Queensland and left Eagle Farm scratching his head when she finished ninth.

“I was very surprised she went like she did,” Sears said. “She had won a trial very easily and I went away thinking ‘gee I’m a poor judge’.

“What she did (Wednesday) is more in line with what she has shown us at home.”

Solar Burst was sent north by Contract Racing and Michael Cahill said the only minor scare he had was keeping within the whip rules as he made his winning run from the back of the field.

“She took a bit of winding up and when I got to the 200m I had already used it four times (from a permitted five until the 100m point),” Cahill said.

“I would have liked to get at her a bit more earlier. It just shows why it’s a silly rule, because I was able to put the stick away in the last 100m because she had hit top gear.”

Solar Burst had been beaten nearly six lengths as a $6 chance behind Keep On Rocking on August 6.

Bracteate was beaten a total of 15 lengths in two Eagle Farm starts after arriving in Queensland with strong NSW form. He rediscovered that form on the firmer Doomben surface to land the Class 5 Handicap on Wednesday.

Zero to hero

PROMISING four-year-olds Zero Tolerance and Quatronic lived up to some excellent form references in making winning returns at Doomben.

Zero Tolerance had matched strides with subsequent Group 2 winner Kebede last season and lived up to a pre-race prediction by jockey Glen Colless.

“He told me she was a living certainty,” trainer Kelly Schweida said. “She’s really matured this time in and it’s good to win a metropolitan race for the owners.”

Zero Tolerance is by Mossman from the Group 1-winning mare Bonanova and is raced by the Hutchins family. Colless had ridden the mare several times in work and felt she was a superior galloper this time in.

“I know she didn’t have a good winning strike rate last season but she had raced well against some good horses,” he said.

Glen Colless steers Zero Tolerance to victory on Wednesday. Picture: Natasha Wood

“It was never in doubt today. She had been going really good at home. She was competitive (in a jumpout) with the likes of Sir Moments and that was a pretty good reference for a Class 3 race. She’s just improved this time in.”

Quatronic clocked a blistering 1:8.96 winning an Open 3YO Handicap at Doomben in February and resumed off a five month break with a tough win.

“Originally he was only going to have a four week break, but he had a little cut which got infected and we had to treat it, which just set him back a few weeks,” trainer Matt Dunn said.

“He has come back in good order. That was a pretty strong midweek race and I know it wasn’t pretty at the end, but he’s run a bit of time and will be much better for it.”

Earlier, Tony Gollan won two of the first three races with Polksie Lady and The Ambassadore. In between, he had Ignite The Light miss the place as the $2.50 favourite and he indicated the colt is likely to have a gelding operation in the not too distant future.

Originally published as Solar Burst, Bracteate show true colours with strong wins at Doomben after Eagle Farm flops