Latest news with #DepthOfCharacter
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Trainers Annabel and Rob Archibald chasing Gosford stand-alone feature clean sweep on Saturday
Newlyweds Annabel and Rob Archibald are in prime position to claim a lucrative clean sweep of Gosford's stand-alone riches on Saturday. The Archibalds, who tied the knot last month, have contenders in all three features, headlined by Depth Of Character ($4.40 favourite) in the Listed $500,000 The Coast (1600m). Ostraka ($9) is in the Listed $250,000 Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) while the stable launches a two-pronged attack with Naval College ($7) and Hopeful ($34) in the Listed $300,000 Gosford Gold Cup (2100m). Rob Archibald admits The Coast is 'probably a bit of an afterthought' for Depth Of Character but knows his stable has a horse in flying form. Depth Of Character is chasing a hat-trick of wins in the feature event for three and four-year-olds and races on the seven-day back-up with Tom Sherry aboard. 'He's been up for a little while but we just thought it looks a nice race for him and we will finish the prep off this run,' Archibald said. 'We were in too minds because the Rough Habit was available to lead into the Derby but we felt like he's got so much speed. 'We opted to come back to NSW and go to this race.' Depth Of Character had the ultimate gear change before this preparation and it's paid huge dividends in recent weeks. The son of Deep Field has won his past two starts in the Sunshine State, including a dominant win last start in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm. Depth Of Character continues his super Queensland form winning the Queensland Guineas for @ANeashamRacing! — 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) May 3, 2025 • 'He is in great form,' Archibald said. 'He obviously has to go down and handle the back-up but he's drawn well and Tom (Sherry) has done a good job on him before. 'I think a couple of the other fancied horses have drawn wide so it looks to set up well for him.' Ostraka, a winner of the Group 3 Silver Eagle last spring, carries topweight of 59kg and is chasing his first victory this preparation with four runs under his belt. The son of Pariah wasn't far away two starts ago when he finished third in the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes before racing too keen in the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes. A wide draw in barrier 11 will make his life tougher. 'I think we try and ride Ostraka a bit quieter than we have been,' Archibald said. 'He can be very effective smothered up and produced late. 'The last couple of starts he's just started to overdo it a touch in front so we will probably go the other way and bring him in behind them. 'Hopefully they overdo it in front and he can be challenging late.' Crikey! Naval College gets home in a close one to win the Australia Day Cup! â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 26, 2024 • Trainer's special bond turned 'slow, lazy' horse into a winner Naval College is set to be a second-up improver in the Gold Cup after finishing fourth in the Group 3 JRA Plate (2000m) fresh from a spell. 'I thought Naval College was excellent first-up,' Archibald said. 'That is all you could hope to see and up to the 2100m will be suitable. 'It's a difficult draw to contend with but he's in good form and should race well.' Hopeful is dropping back significantly in distance after finishing back in the pack in the Group 1 Sydney Cup last start. Soft conditions on the Central Coast will likely hold the key to the imported stayer scoring his first victory in close to three years. 'Hopeful is far more effective with the sting out of the track,' Archibald said. 'He's coming back in trip and is racing pretty well this prep so hopefully he can maintain that form.' with Asgoodassobergets ($13), Hawk Power ($34), Cormac T ($4.80), Junebug ($10), Trapalanda ($21) and Tenniel ($23). The stable is chasing a fifth straight Group 2 AD Hollindale Stakes (1800m) with Fawkner Park ($9), Bois D'argent ($15) and Port Lockroy ($21).
Sydney Morning Herald
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Tom Sherry keen to capitalise again on opportunity in The Coast
After a lucky recent escape, jockey Tom Sherry is looking to again make the most of his opportunity in the $500,000 The Coast. And he believes the in-form Depth Of Character is the right horse to give him back-to-back wins in the feature race on the annual Gosford standalone program on Saturday. Sherry won the 1600m race for three and four-year-olds last year on Magnaspin, for Victorian trainers Leon and Troy Corstens, when the meeting was transferred to Newcastle. The city program is back at Gosford this year after renovations to the track. Since racing has returned there, two meetings have been abandoned because of horses slipping on a problem area on the home turn, but a successful race program on April 25 has paved the way for Saturday's feature card to remain at Gosford. Sherry scored his second-biggest prizemoney win, after the 2023 victory on Unspoken in the $2 million Five Diamonds, when Magnaspin surged late on a heavy Newcastle track last year. 'It's obviously a standalone meeting, and it's always good to win the features in front of a good crowd. They are always good to pick up,' Sherry said. This year he is reuniting with the Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained three-year-old Depth Of Character, which is coming off successive wins at Eagle Farm, including the group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) last Saturday. Drawn well in barrier six, Depth Of Character was a $4.20 Sportsbet chance in the headline race and Sherry was hoping he could bring that form back to NSW.
News.com.au
03-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Libertad shocks the punters at $71 in Victory Stakes
Three years ago, Annabel Neasham watched on as her superstar galloper Zaaki was beaten as a $1.24 favourite in the Group 1 Doomben Cup. On Saturday at Eagle Farm, the newly married Annabel Archibald was the queen of the roughie as Libertad was a quaddie killer when stunning punters with a $71 blowout in the Group 2 Victory Stakes. Life just keeps getting better for the trainer, who recently married co-trainer Rob Archibald, as she scored both Eagle Farm Group 2 features after earlier winning the Queensland Guineas with Depth Of Character. Few saw Libertad's win coming. But it was hard not to be impressed in his second run back from a year-long injury lay-off and bookies slashed his odds from $101 to $15 for the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in a fortnight. Jedibeel ran a narrow second for Brad Widdup and Golden Mile was terrific for James Cummings and Godolphin as a $41 chance in third. A real head bobbing finish in the G2 Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm, and it's the outsider Libertad who gets his nose down on the line! 😮 @ANeashamRacing | @BrisRacingClub | @TrilogyRacing1 — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 3, 2025 The first of the Queenslanders home was evergreen warrior Rothfire in fourth, with trainer Rob Heathcote and connections delighted and indicating they would give him a shot at the 10,000. 'On the strength of that run, we would have to run him 10,000,' Heathcote said. 'There was pressure on inside and outside, was the last man standing and he was entitled to tire. 'He is as tough as Buff (Heathcote's former Group 1 star Buffering).' The Victory Stakes left more questions than answers with equal favourite Far Too Easy finishing second last, fancied Hidden Wealth near the tail and Coleman for the Chris Waller stable nowhere near the winner. • 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! But, for Annabel and Rob Archibald, it was a triumph of epic proportions given Libertad had been to hell and back on the injury front. 'It is great to get him back on track,' Archibald said. 'He's had a couple of setbacks with a septic joint. He is lucky as they can be nasty. 'Then he had a little stress fracture when he came back from that. 'Looking back through his form, he's won some good races and placed behind Joliestar in the Arrowfield so I knew he had the form on the board but I thought he may be a run short. 'I originally had Jamie Mott booked on Lady Laguna and I said this morning 'sorry, she's gone to Hawkesbury instead'. 'I'm sure that when Jamie looked at the (betting) price of Libertad he didn't think he was in with a chance.' Mott now feels sure Libertad can make an impact in Group 1 company in the Doomben 10,000. 'Today he hit the front and got very lost and was like a drunken sailor for a time there until the second horse joined him and kind of headed him,' Mott said. 'To his credit he fought hard and was able to get him on the line. 'With so long off, he should have so much more improvement.'
News.com.au
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Noel Callow seizes second chance from Annabel Archibald with big win on Depth Of Character in Queensland Guineas
After thinking he'd never ride for Annabel Archibald ever again, in-form jockey Noel Callow earned the call-up on for the top Sydney trainer and in a sliding-doors moment, he duly saluted on Depth Of Character in the Group 2 $350,000 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday. With champion jockey James McDonald serving a suspension and Ryan Maloney unavailable, Callow pounced on the chance to win the Guineas on Depth Of Character ($7.50) ahead of the Nathan Doyle-trained filly Churchill's Choice ($8) and the late-surging roughie Beau Dazzler ($34). Callow, who rode a treble at Eagle Farm last weekend, reflected on that ride for Sydney-based Archibald (nee Neasham) about a year ago. 'It's the second ride (on Saturday) I have ever had for Annabel,' Callow said. 'The first one was a pick-up one one day in a maiden at Sunshine Coast and I absolutely gave it a (no good) ride. 'I picked it up because Brodie Loy couldn't make the weight and I was the only bloke in the jockeys' room who could make the weight. 'I couldn't get out (in the race) and I was desperately unlucky and I thought 'I'll never ride for her again' because I'm not on that merry-go-round. 'I never have been and I just got lucky. I got the same again today. J-Mac was booked to ride the horse. Ryan Maloney's manager took another ride for him because he'd won on him the start before. 'So then J-Mac gets suspended in Hong Kong, (Andrew) Mallyon's got a ride, (Damien) Thornton's got a ride. 'From the top eight, bang, here he is and boom. I showed that I can do it.' Gelding Depth Of Character firmed from $15 into the $8 equal favourite to win the $1m Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) on May 31 at Eagle Farm while the Tony and Maddy Sears-trained Beau Dazzler went from $11 to $9. Churchill's Choice dipped from $6 to $4.50 in the Queensland Oaks betting for the $700,000 Group 1 contest over 2200m at Eagle Farm on June 7. Archibald, who got married late last month to co-trainer Rob, said she thought the bookies got it wrong on Depth Of Character. 'I thought he might have been a little shorter in the market,' she said. 'With his Sydney form and two starts back he was behind Evaporate and Swiftfalcon (in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes at Randwick early last month). 'He was still pretty good in the (Randwick) Guineas as well but not as good as the Broadsidings of the world. 'It was a lovely ride by Noel. He did his research and knew he could get a bit fired up. 'I was a bit worried he was travelling too well but once he peeled him out at the top of the straight it was just a matter of holding him together and pressing the button at the right time. 'We'll see where we go to now. There's no real mile races. It is whether you go up or down (in distance). I'm not sure you go up.' Maddy Sears said Beau Dazzler would next head to the $250,000 Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) in two weeks' time at Doomben. â– â– â– â– â– Floozie on silk road to bigger and better races Trainer Tony Gollan 's exciting mare Floozie will back-up in next Saturday's $160,000 Listed Silk Stocking on the Gold Coast after her dominant victory at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Gollan now has eyes on the 1400m Silk Stocking (fillies and mares) for his rising star Floozie next Saturday on the Glitter Strip on Hollindale Stakes Day. 'I quite like her,' he said about the daughter of Group 1 Blue Diamond winner Catchy. 'Her ratings are not as such yet where it's uncomfortable for her, she's still going through her grades, but the plan was always to try and get her to stakes level races during the winter. 'As soon as we started working with her, she gave me such a good feel. 'Once I put the blinkers on her, which was her race gear, she's a different beast.' Gollan said Floozie's two-length victory in a Benchmark 70 race over 1200m at Eagle Farm two weeks ago 'opened my eyes up that she could be a carnival horse'. 'We just have to get her rating up so we can get into the (bigger) races and hopefully it's the Silk Stocking next week,' he said. Jockey Angela Jones was patient in the straight before unleashing on red-hot favourite Floozie, who firmed from $1.60 to $1.45 in the lead-up to the race, to finish ahead of the Chris and Corey-Munce trained Heroic Miss ($14) and Rob Heathcote's En Pointe ($15). "She's not cheap, she's classy!" ðŸ'‹ Floozie wins again at Eagle Farm for @tonygollan! @BrisRacingClub â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 3, 2025 'She was dominant and she definitely made it her show out there today,' Jones said. 'It was nice to see. She's such a lovely big mare and it fills you with confidence when you get on her. 'It was just about getting the luck. She's a perfect push-button horse. She does whatever you ask her and when she goes she has a great turn of foot.' Gollan said Floozie reminded him of stablemate, six-year-old mare Comrade Rosa, who will compete in Sunday's $1m The Archer slot race in Rockhampton. 'It was so sweet for Ange,' Gollan said. 'She finds a spot just off the speed and she has that really good turn of foot that she can stretch out to 1400m and there'll be no problems for her. 'She has come on significantly in a fortnight. She is a big, strong girl and we are nowhere near the bottom of her. 'She is an exciting mare and reminds me a lot of Comrade Rosa a couple of winters ago.' Floozie was trained by Victorians Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr before being transferred to Gollan's stable.
