Wanted - a Group One victory
March 6th 2010 22:44
It was a day when one of the most intense storms ever to hit Melbourne unfolded across the city. The Group One Newmarket Handicap (1200 metres - $1 million) - race 6 on a 9 race program - would be the last race run on ‘Super Saturday’ as thunder clapped, lightning forked, and large hailstones pelted down and settled as a slippery white carpet over the racecourse and surrounds.
(photo: Neil Murray) click on photo for enlargement.
Three year old Fastnet Rock colt Wanted is no stranger to high drama. His Autumn campaign has been just that. Identified as one of the premier sprinters in the land by Speedratings, this brave, and previously unlucky colt, took chance out of the equation at Flemington when he bounced quickly from the barriers and took control of the race - leading down the middle of the track, the crown, with those behind and chasing him being the broad wedge to his arrow to the line. It did appear for a moment that Eagle Falls might be the horse to once again deny him his rightful Group One victory, but after drawing nearly level it was Wanted who would forge clear again to maintain a clear length margin on the line. Apart from (4 year old) runner-up Eagle Falls, it was the 3 year olds who would dominate this feature event, with Ireland and Aidan O’Brien bound Starspangledbanner a brave 3rd, and the lightly raced (and highly fancied) King Pulse 4th.
In an aftermath to the drama of the Newmarket - just completed before the full terror of the storm erupted - both Wanted and King Pulse became spooked, with Wanted momentarily escaping from his strapper, while King Pulse escaped and slipped over on two occasions and has suffered what is suspected to be internal injuries.
Wanted had been the unlucky horse of the Melbourne Autumn. It took a freakish performance by Nicconi (not since repeated since) to defeat Wanted by the barest margin first up in the Group One (1000m) Lightning Stakes - then a second in the Group One (1200m) William Reid Stakes - and then yet another unlucky 4th in the Group One (1100m) Oakleigh Plate.
Trainer Peter Moody - and jockey Luke Nolen - had considered the best way to ride Wanted was to take a sit just off the speed. But in the Newmarket Nolen simply let Wanted find his preferred position and did not fight him, letting him run as he wished. And perhaps this has always been the best way to ride this brave sprinter after all. His courage has never been in doubt.
Widden Stud purchased a controlling interest in Wanted before he contested the Oakleigh Plate. Even before Saturday and his Group One victory this was in my opinion a very good purchase - but has now been made even more so astute after Wanted won Australia’s premier sprint race.
An $800,000 purchase, Wanted was the most expensive yearling from the first crop of exciting stallion Fastnet Rock. Wanted has proven a success on the racetrack - and his race record and speedfigures indicate that this will also be the case when he stands at stud.
Newmarket Handicap Group One 1200m.
1st Wanted (3 year old bay colt by Fastnet Rock out of Fragmentation) - Luke Nolen
2nd Eagle Falls - Kerrin McEvoy
3rd Starspangledbanner - Danny Nikolic
4th King Pulse - Stephen Baster
Wanted wins a dramatic Newmarket Handicap
(photo: Neil Murray) click on photo for enlargement.
Three year old Fastnet Rock colt Wanted is no stranger to high drama. His Autumn campaign has been just that. Identified as one of the premier sprinters in the land by Speedratings, this brave, and previously unlucky colt, took chance out of the equation at Flemington when he bounced quickly from the barriers and took control of the race - leading down the middle of the track, the crown, with those behind and chasing him being the broad wedge to his arrow to the line. It did appear for a moment that Eagle Falls might be the horse to once again deny him his rightful Group One victory, but after drawing nearly level it was Wanted who would forge clear again to maintain a clear length margin on the line. Apart from (4 year old) runner-up Eagle Falls, it was the 3 year olds who would dominate this feature event, with Ireland and Aidan O’Brien bound Starspangledbanner a brave 3rd, and the lightly raced (and highly fancied) King Pulse 4th.
In an aftermath to the drama of the Newmarket - just completed before the full terror of the storm erupted - both Wanted and King Pulse became spooked, with Wanted momentarily escaping from his strapper, while King Pulse escaped and slipped over on two occasions and has suffered what is suspected to be internal injuries.
Wanted had been the unlucky horse of the Melbourne Autumn. It took a freakish performance by Nicconi (not since repeated since) to defeat Wanted by the barest margin first up in the Group One (1000m) Lightning Stakes - then a second in the Group One (1200m) William Reid Stakes - and then yet another unlucky 4th in the Group One (1100m) Oakleigh Plate.
Trainer Peter Moody - and jockey Luke Nolen - had considered the best way to ride Wanted was to take a sit just off the speed. But in the Newmarket Nolen simply let Wanted find his preferred position and did not fight him, letting him run as he wished. And perhaps this has always been the best way to ride this brave sprinter after all. His courage has never been in doubt.
Widden Stud purchased a controlling interest in Wanted before he contested the Oakleigh Plate. Even before Saturday and his Group One victory this was in my opinion a very good purchase - but has now been made even more so astute after Wanted won Australia’s premier sprint race.
An $800,000 purchase, Wanted was the most expensive yearling from the first crop of exciting stallion Fastnet Rock. Wanted has proven a success on the racetrack - and his race record and speedfigures indicate that this will also be the case when he stands at stud.
Newmarket Handicap Group One 1200m.
1st Wanted (3 year old bay colt by Fastnet Rock out of Fragmentation) - Luke Nolen
2nd Eagle Falls - Kerrin McEvoy
3rd Starspangledbanner - Danny Nikolic
4th King Pulse - Stephen Baster
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