Vandyke backs Penrod to bounce back on Jewel day

By Jordan Gerrans

Top trainer David Vandyke is going to overlook Penrod’s indifferent debut run at Doomben last month and press onto the rich QTIS Jewel with the talented colt.

With a booming trial victory at the Sunshine Coast ahead of his debut and a mooted sale to Hong Kong being reported, plenty was expected of the son of Better Than Ready in his maiden race day outing.

Little went the way of Penrod under the urgings of hoop Angela Jones against his own age and sex as he was beaten by just over five lengths as the easing favourite.

Despite the lacklustre performance, leading Caloundra conditioner Vandyke says the colt came through the run well in the QTIS Jewel Prelude.

“He began ok but he just did not muster pace as I would have expected,” Vandyke said.

“He got a bit lost back in the field and was over racing with his head up and copped a check. It was messy so I think it was a bit of a forget run. He pulled up well, which is the main thing.”

Penrod defeated Love To Torque by five lengths in a trial at Caloundra in early February.

Stuart Kendrick’s Love To Torque went on to win a city two-year-old handicap not long after, which gave Vandyke hopes for Penrod’s debut effort.

"He's a lovely horse," Vandyke said prior to the QTIS Jewel Prelude.

"He's going to improve with experience on the run."

As Vandyke noted pre-race, he believes Penrod will be better suited second-up and plans to head to the feature Jewel this Saturday at the Gold Coast with the colt.

“I will probably run Penrod in the two-year-old even though he underperformed on Saturday,” Vandyke said.

“He has come through the run well.”

Following the QTIS Jewel, the annual Queensland Racing Carnival is on the horizon.

Vandyke is hopeful three-year-old filly Philia might just measure up during the winter period.

The daughter of All Too Hard was placed twice to start her career before leading and winning by almost two lengths on a metro Wednesday in late February.

“She is a horse to follow,” Vandyke said.

“She is a filly that is on the rise.”

In-form hoop Cejay Graham was Philia’s partner at Doomben when she broke through and the jockey praised the filly.

“She’s a lovely filly with a massive stride on her,” Graham said.

“She went out there and made my life very easy. We didn’t necessarily intend to lead, but once she bounced out of the gates we were able to take control of the race. The tempo that we were going, I was always pretty confident she would be hard to beat. 

“She gave a good kick, and I was really pleased with the way she pulled away and put a margin on them. She’ll definitely get over further ground judging by that win.”    

Philia is a half-sister to multiple Group 1-winner Duais.

Staged on Saturday, the $2 million Queensland Jewel race day returns to the Gold Coast Turf Club once again headlined by the $500,000 2YO QTIS Jewel and the $500,000 3YO QTIS Jewel.

Now in its eighth year, the Queensland Jewel race day is one of the premier horse racing events for Queensland-bred horses.