Brett enthusiastic about Easter Trophy win

By Isaac Murphy

The Easter Trophy is traditionally a great marker for young stars looking to make their way to the winter features.

Kicking off with 48 hopefuls that lined up in last week’s heats, it was Tony Brett’s Enthusiastic who prevailed in last night’s Final, and the trainer was thrilled with consecutive classy wins.

“His first two sections (5.48 and 11.53) were awesome last night, if he can go around that mark consistently to the back, that’s how he’s going to win a lot of his races,” Brett said.

“He was getting a bit tired late spending plenty of tickets early but with a young dog, that’s something I’m not too concerned about and should come with time.

“Consistency has been his biggest vice but up against the best Fifth Grade dogs going around, he’s come out and been dominant both weeks of the Easter Trophy, hopefully the first of a few he puts in the cabinet.”

Brett knows the winter carnival better than anyone and didn’t shy away from declaring a couple of targets for the dog.

“I was talking to Steve Williams last night about a couple of dogs he owns including Enthusiastic who’ve come through multiple maiden series’ and are only now really reaping the rewards,” Brett said.

“He’s (Enthusiastic) certainly in that category and we’re not going to stop now that he’s got his confidence up, races like the Young Guns and Flying Amy are in his sights.

“He’ll be up against some more experienced dogs in those races but having been around the block already should stand him in good stead.”

Brett also had Orchestrate in the race, and despite doing it the hard way from box five, lost no admirers with a promising run.

“I thought Orchestrate was really game running fourth, he was sort of inside and outside dogs the whole run, he couldn’t make his mind up but he didn’t stop trying,” he said.

“He’s only had the 10 starts and with no field trials you have to learn on the job, hopefully he takes a little bit of knowledge from last night.

“I’m still really high on his potential, Enthusiastic is probably a bit more rounded but he can really gallop when things go his way.”

Sequana continues winning form

Sequana marked her return to racing for Selena Zammit with a statement win over All Hands Off last week, and the hype around her Brisbane Cup hopes has only grown stronger after she brained last night’s Best 8 field in flying time.

“When she drew the pink, we knew we were no chance of leading the race and I was holding my breath past the catching pen, but she did a tremendous job to slot in third the fence down the back,” Mick Zammit said.

“I thought she would win the race from there, but you’ve still got two Best 8 dogs in front of you, she took her time and did well to pull three wide and run away in the straight.

“We thought we had her as good as she’s been in the past, but to get down to 29.68 on a night they weren’t flying puts her in the frame for the Brisbane Cup.”

The Zammits are a destination kennel and new acquisition See Them try announced his arrival in style, as the only other dog to break 30 seconds on the night, winning in 29.97.

“It was great to get the call about See Them Try, you only had to be there on any given Thursday to know his potential and we were more than happy to take him,” Zammit said.

“I don’t think we can take much credit for his win last night, we’ve only had him three weeks and he came to us in great order.

“We just wanted to see how he was going with a 500-metre run, he’s obviously on top on his game and we’ll probably try to stretch him out over the next couple of months.”

Burmans’ breeding remains on point

Ray and Mary Burman’s production line of champions looked to have churned out another one, with Smart Lily breaking the 42-second barrier over the 700 the same week she celebrated her second birthday.

“She didn’t seem to run as wide as she usually does from box one, I’ve got to remind myself sometimes they’re still learning, but it was nice to see her cover a little less ground,” Mary Burman said.

“It’s always a battle knowing when to step them up, internally I knew she would get the trip and I’m glad we pulled the trigger - to be running 41.94 the week of your second birthday is some effort.

“We’ve been fortunate getting our last few litters to the track early, but even a dog like Big Boy Bruce had a lot more starts to his name before we even thought about 700.

“If this girl keeps improving, she’ll be in some Group races over the carnival.”

It was a successful night on the ownership front as well for the Burmans, after Andrew Monaghan’s Magic Prince handled his Novice in style going 30 seconds flat.

“Magic Prince looks like he’s going to be the premier 500-metre dog out of that litter (Zambora Brockie/Magic Hornet), his splits early and down the back are lengths quicker than his brothers and sisters who will want further in time,” Burman said.

“Andrew has done a great job with him not rushing into the Vince Curry and just waiting until he was ready, and it’s been a fantastic start to his career winning two from three.

“Andrew trains another dog out of the litter, Bold Hornet, who won his maiden the same day as Magic Prince, he’s much more in the mould of a middle-distance dog but is progressing nicely too.”

Ninetymile King continues to relish the trip

Ninetymile King’s step up to the 600 metres was highly anticipated, and the freakish talent has lived up to the billing for trainer Bianca Whitford, winning his fourth race from four attempts over the trip and coming from second last to score.

“He actually jumped really well by his standards and he just tangled with the blue dog which almost brought him down on his rear end,” Whitford said.

“To regather himself and pick them up the way he did, I thought it was one of his more satisfying wins,” Whitford said.

“It’s interesting that his 600-metre pattern is to go around them, he used to rail as a sprinter and got cut off a few times, so just prefers to get out in the middle of the track.

“It was encouraging to see him jump, if he can get a bit closer to them, I think we’ll see him running 34.6 comfortably.

“He went 34.81 on not a particularly quick surface the other week.”

There were plenty of voices telling Whitford what to do with the dog, but she knew him best and has got the timing spot on.

“We were really confident when we got him to the middle-distance, he’d come out and win his races like he has, we know how valuable a commodity he is, and it was just about making sure his body was 100% right and he’s feeling great in himself,” she said.

“It’s nice to see him putting the wins on the board; that’s a dozen now at just about a 50% strike rate, he’s got the confidence to win from tough positions as he did last night.

“The 700 is definitely on the horizon, but we’d be mad not to tackle some of the feature 600-metre races first the way he’s going.”