Wednesday 4 October Racing

Date: 03-Oct-2023

Hot trot

WHO might be the most winning trainer at Ipswich over the past six months?

The obvious answer would be Tony Gollan, but surprisingly enough, the timeframe since April provides a different answer.

Kelly Schweida has a 13-12 advantage over Gollan at Ipswich in the past six months, with his tally bulked up by a winning double at the venue last week, via Maid To Fit ($4.40) and Casrock ($6.50).

Schweida has been quick out of the blocks in 2023-24, with 14 of his 17 wins to date being in metropolitan standard races – which is the classification for Ipswich tomorrow.

To put that into perspective, Schweida had 22 metro winners in total last season, so he’s well on track to putting that figure in the shade in the new term, where his current metro strike rate is 25%.

Schweida sends two runners to Ipswich on Wednesday; Enunciation, which is rated a $4.80 chance with TAB in the opening event, and Lucky Decision ($8.50) in the third race.

Enunciation came from well back to just miss in this class at the track on September 15.

Lucky Decision comes off what looks a disappointing last start effort on face value, but he never got into the race that day. He’s way back in grade this time and looks a probable improver with the claim for Cejay Graham.

Gollan also trained a double last Wednesday, via Rising Pacific ($1.30) and Liquor ($2.50). He sends a team of four to Ipswich this week, including early favourites Try Everything (Race 5) and Radiant Remi (Race 7).

Jimmy the jet, but Jag’s on a roll too

James Orman is a predictable front runner among the jockeys across the same time frame. His 24 wins have come at a strike rate of 28% and he added to the tally with a treble last Wednesday, to go with a double at the re-homed Monday meeting two days earlier.

His best based on early TAB markets are Try Everything and Radiant Remi.

While Orman is a clear pacesetter, Jag Guthmann-Chester has made the most of his opportunities when he comes to Ipswich.

The last six months has seen him land nine winners at a strike rate of 22%.

He added to the tally with the longshot Hodgson ($17) last Wednesday, after winning on Maguro last Monday.

Guthmann-Chester’s 15 wins this season have come at 24.6%, which is as good as anyone in Queensland at the moment.

He only has a couple of rides at this meeting, but they include The Last Flash, who makes her debut for the O’Dea/Hoysted stable in what looks a very winnable contest.

The Kendrick train

No trainer will send horses to the Ipswich meeting in hotter form than Stuart Kendrick.

The prolific Sunshine Coast premiership winner is on a roll at the moment, with a purple patch of 10 winners in a nine-day period leading into this meeting.

Kendrick has long been a front runner on his home deck at Caloundra, but he’s casting the winning net further afield this season, where he’s enjoying a great run in the Saturday metros.

Kendrick has prepared winners on each of the last four Saturday metro cards, highlighted by a double on Saturday at Eagle Farm.

Highly promising three-year-old Show No Mercy regained winning touch, before Maximum Output was rewarded for his recent consistent form later in the day. Maximum Output is a good example of how well Kendrick is seeing them at the moment. The horse was in a very winnable race on Friday night, but the stable elected to pull him out and roll the dice from a wide marble at Eagle Farm and were rewarded with a chunkier prizemoney cheque.

Now we wait to see if the hot streak rolls over to Ipswich.

Just under 6% of Kendrick’s career wins have come at Ipswich, but he’s been quieter than usual this calendar year, with just the three wins at the venue.

This week he has Autumn Show, a $7 chance with TAB, in the second race and Early Thoughts ($13) in the third event.

Wednesday Selections

Highland Cathedral, Race 1, $2

Put a big margin on them to break the maiden, then stepped up to a handy race at Doomben and should have finished closer. Has a big class edge on these.

Lucky Decision, Race 3, $8.50

Think it’s a really nice drop in grade for him and if you forgive the last start flop, he had been progressing nicely this preparation.

Brasco, Race 8, $4

Wasn’t far away in a hot maiden at Eagle Farm, then found his race and proved too strong last time at Doomben. Up to 1350m looks a plus now and he can keep progressing in a suitable race here.

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