logo
Trainer Mitch Beer is aiming to get black type for Kembla track record holder Sunrise

Trainer Mitch Beer is aiming to get black type for Kembla track record holder Sunrise

News.com.au24-04-2025

Exciting sprinter Sunrise will earn herself a crack at black type if she back up an explosive first-up performance at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
The Mitch Beer -trained filly broke the 1000m track record at Kembla Grange with a scintillating all the way win on her home course last month.
She is a $2.90 chance to replicate the performance in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m).
Beer also accepted in the Listed $160,000 Mick Dittman Plate (1000m) at Eagle Farm but was elected to wait until another day to test in Sunrise in stakes company.
'If she had have drawn well, she would have gone to Queensland but it was just the barrier that swayed us,' Beer said.
'I think a three-year-old filly coming out of a Class 1 going to a Midway doesn't scream (early) $2.50 favourite but I think she is probably lucky to find a well suited Midway for her.
'If she can run well, we will go to Scone (Denise's Joy) with her because she is only three for a little while longer.'
Sunrise started her career in New Zealand and is now in her second preparation with Beer.
Woweee SUNRISE bolts in by 7 & sets a new 1000m track record!! ðŸ'¥ðŸ'¥
Well done @RacingJJJ
Well found from the @mmsnippets broodmare sale for just 40k pic.twitter.com/xNxYuqQaVe
— mitchellbeer (@beermitchell) March 22, 2025
• Randwick Turf Talk for Saturday: 'I really can't believe the price'
Her first-up form has been franked with runner-up Quartz Legend, which finished 7-1/4 lengths behind Sunrise, winning his next start at the same track and trip.
The performance came as no surprise but Beer is wary not to get carried away with the form.
'I don't think she beat much the other day at Kembla and that probably made the form read a little bit better than what it looks,' he said.
'I think the best thing to take out of the race was the time.
'She ran a track record on a soft 5, which is pretty hard to get your head around.
'But it was a really good win and it was no surprise because she trialled extraordinarily well at Goulburn.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Yellow Brick goes agonisingly close to fairytale upset in Stradbroke Handicap
Yellow Brick goes agonisingly close to fairytale upset in Stradbroke Handicap

The Australian

time10 hours ago

  • The Australian

Yellow Brick goes agonisingly close to fairytale upset in Stradbroke Handicap

Queensland hero Yellow Brick almost pulled one of the great fairytale upsets in recent Stradbroke Handicap history but the $41 roughie was narrowly outgunned by favourite War Machine in the $3m race at Eagle Farm on Saturday. It was a bittersweet moment for father-and-daughter trainers Tony and Maddy Sears, who were proud of Yellow Brick's incredible effort but the moment was tinged with some sadness given they came so close to jagging the $1.8m winner's cheque. But they will settle for $540,000 in prizemoney as the runner-up in Queensland's premier race run on a good track on a sunny day in Brisbane. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The Straddie is 1400m but if it was run over 1500m on Saturday, the Sears would be popping the champagne corks because Yellow Brick, with Andrew Mallyon on board, was starting to wear down War Machine ($2.65) approaching the winning post. Tony Sears said he was incredibly proud of Maddy, who had been training Yellow Brick at the pair's Gold Coast stables before he joined his daughter on the Glitter Strip just two weeks ago. • 'The boys have done it': Hayes proud of sons' landmark Stradbroke success 'I'm more proud of Maddysen than the horse,' he said. 'She's done a great job getting him ready. 'I've only been down the Gold Coast for two weeks. She's defied all the odds. People think he wasn't going very well but we knew he was going well. 'I backed him. We honestly thought he could win. He's just got to be ridden quiet like that. 'It was unbelievable, she's done a great job with him.' Maddy Sears said after the race she was 'speechless'. 'He was tremendous,' she said about Yellow Brick, who last won in a $160,000 Listed race over 1400m at Eagle Farm in October. 'That was the favourite (War Machine) in the race and he gave him a fair headstart at the top of the straight. 'He was the widest runner and he had to do things the hard way but I couldn't be any prouder.' This week Maddy Sears compared five-year-old gelding Yellow Brick to a Labrador Retriever because he 'loves to be the centre of attention'. And although the spoils of victory went to War Machine and Lindsay Park, Yellow Brick sure grabbed his share of attention. • What the jockeys said: 2025 Stradbroke Handicap Meanwhile, champion jockey Craig Williams said another Queensland hero, old warrior Rothfire, was 'gallant' in finishing seventh for trainer Rob Heathcote, who would have preferred a softer track. The seven-year-old Rothfire had battled a hoof injury for the past 10 days after suffering an untimely stone bruise and was lucky to even make the prestigious race. 'From the outside barrier draw he gave me a beautiful ride from there,' Williams said about the 2020 JJ Atkins champion. 'I got on the back of the eventual winner. He travelled so well but the winner was too good for us late. 'He just got a bit tired today and as Rob Heathcote said, he didn't have the ideal preparation.'

Cool Archie delivers Group 1 milestones with fifth straight win in JJ Atkins
Cool Archie delivers Group 1 milestones with fifth straight win in JJ Atkins

The Australian

time15 hours ago

  • The Australian

Cool Archie delivers Group 1 milestones with fifth straight win in JJ Atkins

Almost 10 years after winning his last Group 1 at Royal Ascot, Irish jockey Martin Harley will head to the famous racetrack in England next week as the JJ Atkins champion after producing a peach of a ride on local hero Cool Archie at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Harley thought he had got to the front too soon but he need not have worried as he sustained the pace to secure the winner's cheque in the $1m major over 1600m for father-and-son trainers Chris and Corey Munce. Racenet iQ members get full access to our Pro Tips service, where Greg and our team of professional punters provide daily tips with fully transparent return on investment statistics. SUBSCRIBE NOW and start punting like a pro! 'He's going home to Ireland tonight so I'm tipping he'll be pretty pissed,' colourful owner Max Whitby said about Harley at the post-race presentation. Harley, who suffered a potentially career-threatening broken neck in a sickening mid-week race fall in January 2023, will return home to Ireland on Saturday night and then visit Royal Ascot in London for their big summer carnival races. Martin won the last of his now six Group 1 victories in the 2015 King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and has added majors in France, Ireland and now Australia. • What the jockeys said: 2025 JJ Atkins 'It's been almost 10 years to the day that I had my last Group 1 winner at Royal Ascot so I'll take the anniversary over here,' Harley said. 'I'm on a plane tonight going back for Royal Ascot. And I might fly that plane myself tonight after that.' The racing wheel turned full circle with Cool Archie's win, given Chris Munce had won the race as a jockey when he partnered Sizzling in 2012. The stirring victory was the first Group 1 triumph as a training team for father-and-son combination Chris and Corey Munce. Outside the winner, the run of the race was runner-up Hidden Achievement, the Chris Waller-trained, Yulong-owned colt. Hidden Achievement was slow away and rattled home from the back with James McDonald, who had been battling illness during the day, saying the colt was a hard-luck story. Hidden Achievement, wearing blinkers for the first time, was an eye-catcher and so too was third-placed Bevan Laming-trained youngster Call Da Vinci who gave young jockey Jaden Lloyd a first Group 1 placing. • 'Would have been a Straddie force': Pier wins consolation in style 'You can't do it without the horse, he wears his heart on his sleeve. ' Harley said. 'Team Munce have been massive supporters of mine and we came across a good two-year-old this year. 'I think the horse has done most of the talking. He's taken a big step forward each run and that's what the good ones do. 'But to transform from a Heavy 10 to a Good 4 there today, which I knew he would handle, I never had any doubt in that. But what a superstar he is.' Chris Munce said Harley deserved more recognition for his abilities as a jockey and should be talked about as one of the top riders in Australia. Harley celebrates with trainers Corey and Chris Munce and owner Max Whitby. Picture: Trackside Photography 'Oh, what about that? So good, so good,' a jubilant Munce said. 'I was saying before it's not just about Corey and me, it's the whole team, the staff, and I don't think Martin (Harley) has had enough recognition either, the whole way along. 'He's five from five (On Cool Archie). 'When you put a rider like Martin on, you've got so much confidence. He walked the track yesterday. He told us exactly how he was going to ride the horse. 'He knew they weren't making ground, so we had to ride him a little bit out of his comfort zone, but what a win.' Victorian trainer Danny O'Brien explained his reasons for running his colt Brave Design in the earlier Listed Oxlade Stakes (1200m), which he won with ease to break his maiden status, rather than the JJ Atkins. 'I was concerned about the 1600m,' O'Brien said. 'I was happy enough to stick to the 1200m. If he ran fourth or fifth in the JJ Atkins, then you'd be kicking yourself that he could've won this race. 'He's got a good future. He ran second in the VRC Sires' to Vinrock (at Flemington in March) and ran a good race here two weeks ago (fourth in the BRC Sires' Produce Stakes at Eagle Farm). 'He's been in stakes races his whole life. He'll win a decent race. He's absolutely grown up and he's become a real racehorse.'

Pier dominates in Wayne Wilson to highlight Stradbroke Handicap missed opportunity
Pier dominates in Wayne Wilson to highlight Stradbroke Handicap missed opportunity

The Australian

time15 hours ago

  • The Australian

Pier dominates in Wayne Wilson to highlight Stradbroke Handicap missed opportunity

Exciting Kiwi galloper Pier was stranded two spots outside the Group 1 Stradbroke field, but his trainer Darryn Weatherley felt he could have given the race a mighty shake. And on the evidence of the gelding's thumping win when scoring the consolation prize of the Listed Wayne Wilson (1600m) at Eagle Farm, it was hard to disagree. Had five-year-old Pier nailed a Stradbroke start, he would have carried just 51kg. Racenet iQ members get full access to our Pro Tips service, where Greg and our team of professional punters provide daily tips with fully transparent return on investment statistics. SUBSCRIBE NOW and start punting like a pro! Pier's hopes of gaining a slot in the Stradbroke always appeared forlorn, fourth emergency and still two off the field even after there were a pair of scratchings. But punters didn't miss him in the Wayne Wilson, backing him strongly from $3.10 to $2.60 and he didn't let them down as he thumped his opposition by three lengths. Pier's racing journey hasn't been straightforward, from the exhilarating moment of winning the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas in 2022, to devastating lows of many injury setbacks. Leading Australian owner Ozzie Kheir looks to have another nice horse on his hands. 'I truly believe he would have been a force to be reckoned with in the Straddie, but maybe next year,' Weatherley, who trains in partnership with his daughter Briar, said. 'I would like to spell him here for a month then have a crack at the first Group 1 in New Zealand and the hopefully to Melbourne in the spring.' Pier had warmed up for Saturday's assignment with a flashing light run in the Group 3 BRC Sprint when flashing home from last to finish third. 'Last start he ran a blinder, but he drew a lot more favourably today,' jockey Ethan Brown said. 'It is a bloody long straight but I was on a well prepared, fit horse who carried me through.' In the opening race on Stradbroke day, the Group 3 Gunsynd Classic (1600m), Michael Freedman's three-year-old filly Just Feelin' Lucky ($5) led them a merry dance. The young daughter of US champion Justify wasn't for catching and justified Freedman's decision to give her a shot at a valuable Group race. The filly cost just $80,000 as a yearling but is now worth much more than that and put two wins on the bounce after scoring a midweek race in Sydney at her previous start. 'These Justifys are free-rolling and I had a good chat to Tommy Berry before the race and the idea was to dictate the race from the front and it ended up perfect,' Freedman said. 'It is getting to the back end of the racing season, she's going to turn four pretty soon, so we thought we'd go and have a crack at some black type. 'She's quite a valuable filly now.' ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Floozie lives up to Gollan's wraps Tony Gollan might be turning into Nostradamus as he had a Group 1 prophecy with exciting mare Floozie which is now another step closer to being fulfilled. Queensland's champion trainer has this winter carnival been telling anyone who will listen that Floozie is a star. After her stylish win in the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1300m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday, she will now be deployed in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara in a fortnight. Floozie, a four-year-old daughter of Zoustar, was formerly trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr in Victoria and now hasn't been beaten in four starts since arriving at Gollan's Eagle Farm stables. She won some modest Benchmark races at the start of her campaign, but wins in the Silk Stocking and now the Dane Ripper have showcased the talent that Gollan always knew she had. The Group 2 triumph was also the biggest win of young jockey Angela Jones' career and she rode the mare a treat. Gollan is now heading overseas to Royal Ascot, but will have a tantalising treat to come back to as he unleashes Floozie in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara for fillies and mares at Eagle Farm in a fortnight. 'She is a really good mare this,' Gollan said. 'I said when she won a Benchmark 70 four starts ago that this mare would take part in the winter carnival. 'That's exactly what she is doing. 'Onwards to the Tiara in a fortnight now and I can't wait. 'This mare is going to give that race a hell of a shake and when mares are in form, they can do anything. 'She won on a heavy track on the Gold Coast the other day and it was a firm track here today so she goes good on all surfaces.' Floozie was strongly backed from $6 to $4.60 in the Dane Ripper and her backers barely raised a sweat with Jones having her perfectly positioned before she zoomed for home. 'It is just incredible for this mare to string four together at a tough time of the carnival,' Jones said. 'She is just brilliant. She is a jockey's dream. 'You can just put her where you want her.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store