Placed To Perfection Over Ground

28 January 2012

Placement made an overdue return to winning form in Melbourne this afternoon when successful at the Sandown meeting. It was the daughter of Savabeel’s second win but that record doesn’t accurately reflect her ability.

Bred and sold by WS, she was placed in the Gr 1 VRC Oaks, the Gr 2 Wakeful Stakes and the Listed Sporting Bet Stakes before she had broken her maiden. The four-year-old has continued to race consistently and fully appreciated the step up to 2100 metres today for trainer Danny O’Brien.

He purchased the mare out of WS’s 2009 consignment to the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale for $A65,000. She is out of the O’Reilly mare Lucida who is a daughter of the dual Gr 3 Gold Trail and Lowland Stakes winner Starcent. The Centaine mare also finished runner-up at the top level in the NZ 1000 Guineas and Levin Classic

Pure Alpha delivers again as Ardrossan continues to rise

Ardrossan gelding Pure Alpha led throughout to win by 1.29 lengths at Eagle Farm for owner Ozzie Kheir, taking his earnings past $300,000. The result caps a stellar run for sire Ardrossan, whose yearlings fetched up to $450,000 this year on strong Hong Kong form.

28 August 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

It is difficult to maintain momentum when sitting in judgment of racing’s governance. After all, I get no pleasure in searching for non-credible decisions, but one is perpetually bewildered by the rationale behind many of the positions that make little sense.