In Brief
- Mandela Effect meets his rivals better at the weights.
- Trainer confident his stable star is ready to atone for Newmarket minor placing.
- Gee Gee Secondover has the credentials to win again.
One of the state’s best weight-for-age performers Mandela Effect gets his chance to make amends for a gallant second in the Newmarket Handicap when he steps out in the Listed Conquering Stakes over 1400 metres in Launceston on Wednesday night.
Mandela Effect flashed home from well back to finish second to Gee Gee Secondover in the Newmarket over 1200 metres three weeks ago.
But stepping up to 1400m and back to weight-for-age conditions is a positive his trainer believes will be too great an advantage over his stable star’s rivals.
“He pretty much meets the same field he met in the Newmarket Handicap but this time he gets to meet them a half-kilogram better and he steps up to his favourite distance,” Brunton said.
“I can’t fault the horse condition-wise since his Newmarket run and while he has drawn a tricky gate (3), I reckon he might just be too good for the opposition.”
Brunton has three runners in the race, with veteran sprinter Ruettiger having what could be his last start and Fragment, a talented sprinter-miler that came to Brunton’s stable last year with the hope of rejuvenating his career.
“Ruettiger deserves his place on this field because he has run some great races over the distance and his recent form is good enough to suggest he has claims.
“Fragment came to my stable with the hope of rejuvenating his racing career and while it has taken time, his owners, the Larter family, have been patient and allowed me to get him right and his form of late has been great.
“Fragment might not have the X-factor of Mandela Effect, but he is in really good form and warrants plenty of respect.”
Gee Gee Secondover could not have been more impressive in winning the Newmarket and while his pet distance is 1200m, the way he hit the line last start suggests he would only need to mirror that effort to take out the Conquering.
Blaze Forth won this race last year and his effort to finish fifth first-up in the Goodwood Handicap in Hobart last month was good enough to suggest he is on track to make it back-to-back wins in the $100,000 Listed event on Wednesday night.
Last season’s Ladbrokes Hobart Cup winner Toorak Affair was an eye-catching sixth in the Newmarket, four lengths from the winner, and while this also looks to be too short for the talented stayer she has a good record over the trip on the Launceston circuit, having won three and placed twice from eight attempts.
The Adam Trinder-trained four-year-old Mystical Pursuit was fifth in the Newmarket and is sure to be improved by that outing and last season’s Hobart Cup placegetter Shady Hustle mustn’t be left out of the place chances.
Watch the replay of the Newmarket Handicap where several of the Conquering field competed last start.