June 23 can't come fast enough for Zac Lloyd as he's seen his lead in the Sydney apprentice title evaporate in the past two weeks and slip into second place as Dylan Gibbons notched four winners at any meeting for the first time in his short career.
When Lloyd was suspended twice in a week, on May 23 and 27, on his comeback from another suspension he held a five win lead on 58 but with wins on Ozzmosis, So Good So Cool, Iowna Merc and Passeggiata it took Gibbons to 60 wins.
It's still four more city meetings until Lloyd rejoins the race. Reigning champion Tyler Schiller is on 53 winners.
Gibbons came to Randwick thinking he was a good chance to snare multiple winners and was rapt following Passeggiata's win that he was able to achieve what isn't an easy feat.
"When I got the first couple and I had a $1.60 favourite I thought surely today's the day,'' Gibbons said.
"I've been pretty blessed the last couple of weeks with everyone spread around, I've been well looked after. I've been close to having these better days and eventually it's gone my way."
Baker Vows To Harness Passeggiata's Speed
Flying filly Passeggiata won as expected in the Furphy Handicap (1000m) but trainer Bjorn Baker says he'll have to get to work in order to teach her how to conserve some energy if she's to continue to rise through the grades.
After opening up a five or six length lead coming to the turn the three-year-old had clearly burned the candle too quickly but managed to hold on for a neck win with Miss Ostend flooding home late.
Punter's Intelligence sectional data illustrates how fast Passeggiata put away the metres early running 13.08 for the first 200m, a blistering 10.15 (800m-600m), then 10.62 (600m-400m), 11.24 (400m-200m) while she felt the pinch in her final 200m of 12.28 – the race's slowest final section (Distillate didn't track).
"I think she's too quick for her own good to be honest,'' Baker said.
"We're going to have to work on harnessing that speed. She's really promising, we've got to work on her a bit but she got the job done.
"She's still not the finished product, she's not straightforward. I thought she was naturally speedy early but probably overdid it a little bit. A win's a win, you're never going to turn down a win."
It was a day out for Baker with his first five win haul in Sydney with Passeggiata and Lady Of Luxury in the second last following wins by Ozzmosis, Iowna Merc and Ita.
Ozzmosis Signals Fun Times Ahead
"That was fun" is how Dylan Gibbons described his ride on unbeaten colt Ozzmosis after the youngster signalled bigger things ahead with a dominant showing at Randwick.
The star apprentice was confident well before the turn in the Robrick Lodge Handicap (1100m) and, after he ran down the leader Royal Tribute, predicted big things ahead for the son of Zoustar.
"It's great just knowing all you have to do is aim and point and you have a winner. I just can't speak highly enough of him,'' Gibbons said.
"He's a real professional, jumped well and when I got outside the leader he would have switched off for as long as I let him. I've never been that confident a long way from home.
"He oozes a lot of quality and it'll be scary to see what he does when he really puts the foot down."
Baker admitted to feeling some pressure pre-race with the expectation that Ozzmosis would live up to the hype that saw him start $1.40 on debut and $1.85 on Saturday.
The spring beckons now but Baker wouldn't be drawn on what races he might target, saying it's unlikely a Golden Rose (1400m) would be on the cards even though the 2021 winner In The Congo appeared at the corresponding meeting two years ago.
"He's definitely got a big future, we'll probably put him out now,'' he said.
"We're very lucky in Sydney we've got neverending options, the stake money is good, we'll just have a good think about what we do.
"He's a Zoustar colt and we've got to give him every opportunity."
Donnelly Puts Narrandera Big Dance Option On Table
The chance to have a shot at a big payday is tempting trainer Tim Donnelly to give lightly raced four-year-old Cliff House his opportunity to qualify for the $3 million Big Dance later this year.
On the back of Cliff House's TAB Highway (1500m) win at Randwick, where he made it four from eight, Donnelly said the $50,000 Narrandera Cup (1600m) on July 16 holds appeal.
The Wagga trainer said he's uncertain whether the gelding would make a Big Dance field even if he secured the eligibility at Narrandera, because of his rating, but likes the thought of tackling the $500,000 Little Dance (also 1600m on November 7).
"It's a Big Dance race, it's a mile, his first start in a race was at Narrandera,'' Donnelly said.
"I'm not expecting to get into the main race but the Little Dance is still worth half a million and a country horse (Dream Runner) won it last year."
Cliff House's win broke an almost eight-year Randwick drought for jockey Danny Beasley, whose last Randwick winner was Leonforte back on November 3 in 2015 before he left to ride in Singapore.
Spacewalk Muscles Up For "Deserved" Stakes Win
Spacewalk isn't known around the traps at Godolphin for his intestinal fortitude but the three-year-old gave his reputation an upgrade with a brave win in the Listed $160,000 Bob Charley AO Stakes (1100m).
The gelding jumped from the outside gate and jockey Jean Van Overmeire was forced to go to Plan B and cuddle Spacewalk until early in the straight before letting him go.
It proved the right move with Spacewalk holding off last year's winner Dragonstone by a short neck with early leader Wewillrock coming off the canvas to be close up in third.
"He's not reknowed for his toughness but he got caught three wide,'' Godolphin's Paul Reid said.
"We were hopoing to follow Dehorned Unicorn across and maybe get a bit of cover, if not we'd have to go with it from there. Jean held him together and he toughed it out from there.
"He's never far away, he's raced in reasonable company all the time. There's another couple of races around the corner James (Cummings) might program for him but he deserved that win."
It was Godolphin's second win in the race in the past five years following Deprive in 2019. Reid suggested the Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) at Grafton next month could be a target for Spacewalk.
Hippo Celebrates Special Comeback Randwick Win
It took Adam Hyeroniumus a good ten minutes to make it back to the jockeys room after posting his first city winner in almost three years on Ita in the Celebration Of Women In Racing Handicap (1600m).
The jockey has only recently returned from a ban of 2-1/2 years for betting offences and he said the win of Ita was made more significant given a family connection with the mare's owners.
"Funnily enough I trialled her at Canterbury in her first trial, some good family friends are in the ownership, and I've been desperate to get back on her since I've been back,'' he said.
"I feel like I haven't missed a beat since my first ride (back). It's special to ride a winner for them, there's lots of family here today, it's special to come to Randwick and deliver the goods for them."
Hyeronimus, who was 33 last Saturday, said the race panned out perfectly for Ita who bounced back from a rare failure at the Scone carnival a month ago.
"She's been freshened up and coming back in distance and it's done her the world of good,'' he said.
"I wanted to be positive, we had a bad gate, and I got to where I wanted to be. She travelled sweetly in the run and at the top of the straight I was going well."
