Savabeel’s son top Derby prospect
Savabeel three-year-old Live And Free has boosted his Gr.1 Queensland Derby hopes in emphatic fashion.
He is now the joint-favourite for the classic following an impressive victory at Randwick on Saturday afternoon.
Trained by John O’Shea, he posted the third win of his six-start career in outstanding style.
“At the half-mile the writing was on the wall,” O’Shea said. “He just had a lap full of horse and we know that he had the best turn of foot.”
Live And Free settled back in the field before he unleashed with a powerful finish in the hands of Benton Avdulla.
“He took me everywhere I needed to be and once I let him stride he accelerated really well and put a gap on them quickly,” he said.
A $200,000 Karaka yearling, Live And Free was originally in the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman stable at Cambridge.
He finished second on debut at New Plymouth in November before relocating to O’Shea’s operation.
Ardrossan’s Group 1-placed darling wins A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes
Second and fourth in 1600m Group 1 races in her two previous starts since being purchased privately by OTI Racing and stepping out in Australia under Chris Waller’s racing banner, De Armas (Ardrossan) stepped up in distance at Flemington on Saturday and opened her Australian account in style in the A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes (2000m) on Derby Day.
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The Corner with Garry Chittick
The writing of my Corner started many years ago, motivated by an irritation that I felt needed scratching. It was never my intention to make my commentary regular; neither did I intend to reinvent the direction of racing administration. It is both disappointing and ironical that what should be a simple, straightforward business provides a regular need for comment.
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