Wyong, Wagga previews: Conductor in tune for first win
The formidable combination of trainer Gary Moore and jockey Tim Clark can strike with a blue-blooded colt.
Gary Moore aims to strike for a fourth time already in 2022 and deliver Domeland their second winner in the space of four days all thanks to the bluest of blue-blooded colts.
His name is Chief Conductor and he hasn’t been with Moore long, but long enough for the Group 1 winning trainer to know he can gallop.
Then again. it would be strange if he couldn’t given that an incredible 77 per cent of I Am Invincible’s offspring who get to the track also get to the winner’s stall.
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As for his dam, Chief Conductor is the third foal of Snitzerland who retired to stud as a Group 1 winner, one-time course record holder and a Golden Slipper runner-up.
Snitzerland’s first two, and presently, best two foals are the All Too Hard siblings Hard Landing, who won the Maribyrnong Plate and Saas Fee, who ran third in a Belle Of The Turf.
Chief Conductor was bought for $600,000 at the 2020 Inglis Australian Yearling Sale by Domeland and given to Peter Moody to train.
The colt was a hot favourite on a hot day at Geelong in late November which accounts, for the most part, for his disappointing debut.
“He is a beautiful horse all round,” Moore said.
“He is beautifully bred, he is a great type, a lovely mover and I think he has got a future in better company than a maiden.”
Chief Conductor left an almighty impression on everyone, not least Moore, when he won his 1030m heat at the Rosehill trials 14-days ago.
Granted he might not have beaten much else but he left them standing at the furlong marker to win by upwards of two-lengths.
For those who may be doubting the strength of the trial, no one can diminish his trackwork and what he did to a last start city winner in the intervening period.
“I galloped him with Pretonius here last Tuesday and he worked better than him. He’s a really nice horse,” Moore said.
The only off note for Chief Conductor is barrier nine of 10 in Tuesday’s Tracey Bartley Racing Maiden Handicap (1100m).
Moore, an Arc de Triomphe winning jockey himself, is hoping the colt’s speed and Tim Clark’s skill can see the horse’s reputation restored after his poor showing at Geelong.
“He showed plenty of gate speed in the trial. It’s a big difference between a trial and a race but Tim is riding in such great form at the present moment, I don’t think it will be a worry,” said Moore.
Clark and Moore aren’t quite in the realms of Tommy Smith/George Moore as a combination but they are a formidable duo nonetheless.
Their greatest triumph, so far that is, came via the far-flung exploits of the Widden-bred iron-horse Takedown who campaigned in five states and two countries, retiring with a richly deserved Group 1 win on his C.V.
GARDNER HAS BRUSSELS READY TO FLEX HER MUSCLES
Canberra-based galloper Miss Brussels is currently batting at ‘0 and 10’ but her trainer Norm Gardner is warning punters not to be too quick to dismiss her chances in Tuesday’s Wagga RSL Club Maiden (1300m).
Miss Brussels is a cleverly-named daughter of Eurozone with an interesting pedigree in that both her sire and damsire, Kingston Rule, were trained by the legendary Bart Cummings.
Gardner’s mare is guaranteed to be big odds at Wagga on Tuesday and while her numbers don’t read well at face value, Gardner knows better than anyone that there is more to her form than meets the eye.
“It will probably be a bit short for her and she is probably really looking for a mile, but I am hoping she will run really well fresh,” Gardner said.
“She has just taken a long while. She never showed much as a young horse but she has really come good, certainly at her last preparation.”
Miss Brussels may have another valid excuse, seven in fact, for not appearing on the podium yet.
That’s because seven times in her 10 starts, she was racing on soft or heavy tracks.
“She cannot go a yard on heavy tracks,” Gardner said.
“Her last preparation was almost always on heavy tracks. I think her only two good runs were on the firmer going.”
While Gardner is pleased with the prospect of a flat deck for Miss Brussels, he was hoping for a soft and preferably heavy track for the Riverina-bound stablemate La Valkyrie.
A daughter of Bianconi, La Valkyrie was bred by Gardner, as was her better-known sibling, Le Cavalier.
Le Cavalier won nine races for Gardner and over $270,000 whereas La Valkyrie has so far only managed one solitary win from 15 outings.
There is at least one trait that both horses share and that is that they are barnstormers and able to launch themselves late with varying degrees of success.
It’s an modus operandi that Gardner will be forced to employ at Wagga given La Valkyrie has drawn 18.
“Normally I wouldn’t run from that barrier but she’s a backmarker. I am just hoping that we can ride her a bit quiet and on the big track, she should get home,” he said.
Originally published as Wyong, Wagga previews: Trainer Gary Moore has high hopes for new stable addition Chief Conductor
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