Latest news with #JustFolk
News.com.au
03-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Punch Lane earns Big Dance qualification by winning the Hawkesbury Gold Cup
Punch Lane, Sydney racing's iron horse, delivered another knockout blow to his chasing rivals at Hawkesbury on Saturday. Champion jockey Nash Rawiller sent Punch Lane straight to the front early in the Group 3 $250,000 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) and from that moment their opponents were racing for second prize. This was Punch Lane's third start in as many weeks and he was backing up after leading throughout to win at Randwick last Saturday. It was a case of 'rinse and repeat' for the Anthony and Sam Freedman -trained Punch Lane in the feature race at the Hawkesbury stand-alone meeting. 'Tough as nails this horse, it's been a great training effort,'' Rawiller said. 'Three weeks in a row, not many can do that, but he has come here today and was first out of the gates and first onto the bridle. 'You could expect him to half not want to be here but he was better than last week.'' Punch Lane ($2.30 favourite) gave nothing else a chance in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup as he maintained his advantage throughout to win by 1-1/4 lengths from Osipenko ($9) with My Oberon ($14) a half-length away third. Matcha Latte, winner of the Provincial-Midway Championships Final, was a brave fourth just in front of Tavi Time. Punch Lane leads all the way in the G3 @hawkesburyrc Gold Cup and wins in style!ðŸ�† That's also a double to @nashhot ðŸ'° @FreedmanRacing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 3, 2025 Rawiller, who rode a brace of winners after scoring earlier on Able Willie, won his second successive Hawkesbury Gold Cup following his win on Just Folk 12 months ago. In fact, Rawiller has had a lot of success at the Hawkesbury stand-alone meeting over the years having also won three Hawkesbury Crowns on Coco Jamboo (2024), Sweet Deal (2021) and More Strawberries (2012), and two Hawkesbury Guineas on Hawaii Five Oh (2023) and Royal Discretion (2008). Rawiller predicted the Freedman father and son training partnership will make a huge success of their decision to open a 24-box Sydney satellite stable at Randwick to complement their main stable base at Mornington in Victoria. 'Anthony hasn't been up here for long and is learning the ropes, I guess, in Sydney a little but I'm sure he will get good support, he's a top trainer,'' Rawiller said. Rawiller's racing colours of royal blue, gold armbands and cap of the William Street Syndicate are also synonymous success. The ownership group has raced many outstanding gallopers including 1982 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups winner Gurner's Lane, trained by the late Geoff Murphy. The Freedman family has trained for the syndicate of mainly Melbourne-based businessmen for many years including most notably the outstanding sprinter Santa Ana Lane who Anthony prepared to win five Group 1 races including the 2018 TJ Smith Stakes and Stradbroke Handicap, and 2019 VRC Sprint Classic. Hall of Famer Lee Freedman trained Paris Lane for the syndicate to win the 1994 Caulfield Cup and Mackinnon Stakes. Punch Lane's Hawkesbury Gold Cup win ensures the gelding is qualified for the $3 million The Big Dance at Royal Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day in November. A rising six-year-old by champion racehorse and sire So You Think, Punch Lane scored his eighth win from just 20 starts and took his career earnings to nearly $670,000. Anthony or Sam Freedman weren't on track for Punch Lane's Hawkesbury Gold Cup win but stable representative Shane Hourigan said the five-year-old was the 'perfect horse' to back up quickly and still perform at his best. 'This wasn't an afterthought to back up from Randwick into the Hawkesbury Gold Cup – and he is probably the right horse to do it with,'' Hourigan said. 'He does his work, eats, sleeps, then goes out in the morning and does it all again. 'We didn't have to do too much with him during the week, he's fit and this was his third week in a row. 'So, we just kept him ticking over during the week, making sure the horse was happy. Fresh is best as they say.'' Hourigan said Rawiller was able to dictate terms to suit on the front-running Punch Lane. 'In his races, this horse makes his own luck,'' he said. 'Nash gave him a great ride, jumped nicely, controlled the pace then kicked and had too much for them. 'He was always doing things on his own terms.''
News.com.au
25-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Victorian trainer Gavin Bedggood praying Brisbane's big wet continues for wet-tracker Just Folk
Victorian trainer Gavin Bedggood has been performing a rain dance this week as he prepares veteran gelding Just Folk for the $300,000 Brisbane Mile at Eagle Farm on Saturday. The wet weather continues to plague South East Queensland this week, not that Bedggood will mind at all, with a heavy track this weekend a distinct possibility. TAB was offering a 'crazy price' of $9 on Wednesday for topweight Just Folk to win the Brisbane Mile, behind Port Lockroy ($4.40) and local mare Miss Joelene ($4.60). But with the rain tumbling down in Brisbane, that price had plummeted to $5.50 for Just Folk on Friday morning. 'If that track is proper heavy, you wouldn't get many better wet-trackers in Australia than him,' Bedggood said about Just Folk. 'You go through his form card, on heavy ground it's seven starts for three wins and two placings and on soft ground he's had 17 starts for five wins and eight placings. 'Then you look at his good form and he's 23 starts for two wins and three placings. 'He's not the same horse on a good surface and at the level he's racing now, he needs things to suit and that's why he's made his way to Brisbane.' Just Folk finished a disappointing 17th in this month's $4m Doncaster Mile at Randwick, in a race won by Stefi Magnetica, but Cranbourne trainer Bedggood was willing to forgive that result. 'He was very good winning the Doncaster Prelude (at Rosehill over 1500m on April 1) when they went along at a good gallop and they got wet conditions (Soft 7 track),' he said. 'In the Doncaster it was a drying track and they went very slow. He was going low 11s the day he won (the Prelude) but they were running sub 12s in the Doncaster Mile. 'On drying ground in that class of race he needs to run up to his best but the race wasn't run to suit him whatsoever.' Bedggood said Just Folk would also contest the $500,000 Group 2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) on the Gold Coast on May 10, which was a 'line-in-the-sand' run for whether he pushes on to the Group 1 $1m Doomben Cup (2000m) two weeks later or goes to the Group 3 Lord Mayor's Cup (1800m) on May 31 which he won last year at Eagle Farm. Ryan Maloney, who triumphed in the 2024 Brisbane Mile on Mighty Ulysses for Annabel Neasham, will ride Port Lockroy, who finished ninth in the Doncaster Mile. Neasham trains four-year-old stallion Port Lockroy in partnership with her now husband Rob Archibald, with the power couple tying the knot on Thursday. Cejay Graham will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories on Miss Joelene, who won impressively on a soft track at Doomben over 1350m on April 16. 'It's not ideal but not much you can do about it when they keep calling off races (due to the rain),' trainer Kelly Schweida said about the quick turnaround for his mare. 'She needs to keep improving. You'd seem to think a Caloundra Cup (over 2400m on July 5) would suit her but I don't know. 'It's so hard because every time you pick up a paper and listen to the radio, there's another (star southern) horse coming through to all the big races. 'I'll take it step by step but she can run the trip and she can handle soft ground. That helps but her (winter carnival) program will depend on what horses are coming up.'
