Godolphin colt Tassort ticked all the boxes to become Golden Slipper favourite on Saturday and the race he won, the Golden Gift, is doing exactly the same after just four runnings.
The Brazen Beau colt could be the horse to push the black type claims of the Golden Gift, which is perfectly placed for emerging types to have a run and then a break before contesting the autumn riches.
Impressive: Tassort blows away the field to win the Golden Gift.Credit:AAP
Tassort will have a spell after blowing away his rivals on Saturday at Rosehill. He has a bit to learn in terms of temperament but the raw speed and talent is there.
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He will have to control his fizzy attitude as he works towards the biggest juvenile prize in March.
His win was impressive by margin, five lengths, and on the clock where he smashed the race record, which was held by Yankee Rose before going on to be a Golden Slipper runner-up and group 1 winner.
The manner of biding his time until the 200m and then accelerating through a gap and away to victory was a good look.
It is accepted that pre-Christmas two-year-old races usually produce the Golden Slipper winner, yet Sydney only has two unrestricted black type races, the Breeders Plate and Gimcrack Stakes, at the start of October.
When compared to other states it seems inadequate with Melbourne having five black type two-year-old races in the spring and Brisbane three before New Years Day.
The Golden Gift was only created four years ago and in the first edition Yankee Rose beat Good Standing, which was trained by James Cummings, and has developed into the sounding board for better two-year-olds.
Last year Secret Lady beat Plague Stone – the winner went on to the Slipper while the runner-up is a Listed winner 12 months later.
“We put the extra money on the race to help horses get money in the bank early for the Golden Slipper and the Magic Millions,” ATC racing manager James Heddo said. “The quality of the winners and placegetters in the past couple of years points to it being an over average race, which we would like the pattern committee to have a look at.”
Cummings reaches for the sky
Anthony Cummings will keep promising galloper Sky Boy when his partnership with son Edward finishes at the end of the year and hopes to have it run in the autumn's Doncaster.
Sky Boy will start close to favourite for the Villiers Stakes at Randwick on December 15 after bring up his fourth consecutive win at Rosehill on Saturday.
Flying high: Jockey Cristian Reith rides Sky Boy to victory in the Membership Handicap at Rosehill.Credit:AAP
“We thought he was a stakes horse six months ago but they have to prove it,” Anthony Cummings said. “He has taken every step and if he can win the Villiers there is a spot in the Doncaster, which is a race that I think would suit him. He's an exciting horse to look to the future with."
Meanwhile, Edward Cummings is still to announce where he will train out of when he goes out on his own in January. He has a trainers licence but no stables.
It is understood he has approached Hawkesbury and another track, but the ATC have made it clear there are no boxes available for him on its tracks.
Freedman a drought breaker
Richard Freedman is getting a reputation as the drought-breaker.
After more than 900 winless days he returned The Bandit to the winners list in style on the Kensington track at Randwick on Thursday, where the former Japanese stayer broke the 2400m record.
That comes after getting Auvray to win after more than 1000 days in the wilderness in last year's Lord Mayor's Cup before taking to the Melbourne Cup earlier this month.
He also got Shalmaneser to win after more than two years in the Taree Cup in August.
All three stayers had been through numerous stables before Freedman got them but his horsemanship worked them out and got them back happy and firing.
Coffs $151 plunge finds the mark
The changing face of betting was clearly on show as Waiheke Island landed a long-priced betting plunge in the last race at Coffs Harbour on Saturday.
The six-year-old touched a $151 with bookmakers on Saturday morning but by the time betting opened on track he was $7.50 chance and started at $6.
He sailed down the outside to score, leaving corporate bookmakers and the TAB fixed odds with a losing result.
Racing writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
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