Annabel Neasham in dilemma over Plundering start

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Annabel Neasham has a difficult decision to make whether Plundering makes his Brisbane return at Doomben on Wednesday.

Plundering was nominated for the Benchmark 75 Handicap over 1350 metres and the Class 4 Handicap over 1200 metres on Wednesday.

Neasham has preferred the Class 4 event as the four-year-old’s best option at Doomben but he also has been nominated for the Class 3 Plate at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

“If he runs on Wednesday it’ll be the Class 4 but we’re just going to sit back and weigh things up,” Annabel Neasham's assistant trainer Todd Pollard said. 

“We think he’s probably too good a horse for mid-week class here and he may still go to Eagle Farm.

“He’s been very consistent and he’s a decent horse.”

Plundering has been placed at his past three starts in Sydney including his last start third to the James Cummings-trained Contemporary in a 1200 metre Benchmark 78 at Randwick on December 30.

“The last time he was in Brisbane he won two of his first three starts and beat Yellow Brick at the Gold Coast one day,” Pollard said.

“He was going to run in Sydney last Saturday but he drew wide and was scratched from Randwick so we thought it would be a good idea to send him back to Brisbane to regain his confidence.

“It’s likely he’ll head back to Sydney for the autumn if he goes well again here but we’ll just wait and see how he goes.”

A son of Shooting To Win, Plundering started his career in Brisbane winning his first two starts at the Sunshine and Gold Coast in September of 2022.

He was then dispatched to Sydney after finishing fifth at his next start at Eagle Farm the following month and made his Sydney debut on Anzac Day last year finishing third in a Benchmark race on the Kensington track.

Plundering lived up to Neasham’s decision to send him south winning on the same track over 1300 metres last May before finishing second at his next four starts in Benchmark races at Randwick and Rosehill across winter.

Neasham has stood down star stable apprentice Bailey Wheeler for a second time after he missed track work duties and has booked the state’s leading apprentice Cejay Graham to partner Plundering if he starts at Doomben on Wednesday. 

“We’re probably helping out Cejay a bit in their premiership battle by booking her with Bailey stood down again,” Pollard said.

Graham is currently third in the Brisbane jockeys’ premiership with 38 wins and leads the battle for apprentice’s honours, 8.5 wins clear of Wheeler.