In Brief
- Shot of Irish upsets even money favourite.
- 5YO thrives on wet tracks.
- The Inevitable remains on target for Group 1.
Tasmanian galloper Shot of Irish scored an overdue win on interstate soil on Saturday when he led throughout to win a benchmark 78 handicap over 1600 metres at Sandown.
The gelding was formerly in the care of premier Tasmanian trainer Scott Brunton, who has had to place many of his horses with Victorian trainers to keep them ticking over following the Government’s decision to shut local racing down over a month ago.
Shot of Irish was placed with Richard Laming at Cranbourne and it was the five-year-old’s second start for the talented mentor.
The gelded son of Canford Cliffs was well backed to start the $5 second favourite while punters also came for the Patrick Payne-trained Duke of Plumpton that started the $2 favourite.
Shot of Irish jumped well from gate two to lead but he was pestered by Midas Prince ($9.50) on his outside to the home turn.
When talented apprentice Teodore Nugent called on Shot of Irish to dig deep he gave his rivals the slip and went on to score by almost three lengths from the favourite with outsider Connery ($20) third.
Brunton has always had a decent opinion of Shot of Irish and predicts more wins before he ends his interstate campaign.
“He is a very good horse and grows a leg at Sandown and on heavy tracks,” Brunton said.
“Richard is doing a great job with the horse and provided we can place him in the right races he will be very competitive.”
Brunton has sent several horses to Patrick Payne and Laming with his stable star The Inevitable about to head to South Australia to tackle the $750,000 Group 1 Goodwood Handicap at Morphettville on May 16.
“The Inevitable has pulled up well from his first-up run at Flemington last week, so it’s all systems go for a trip to Adelaide in a fortnight.”