Trainer Gai Waterhouse is rated an undeniable chance to win the Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm on Saturday for the first time.
Waterhouse, pictured above, is already one of Australia’s most celebrated trainers but an overdue victory in Queensland’s most prestigious race will only add to her standing.
Alongside co-trainer Adrian Bott, Waterhouse will send out the lightly weighted three-year-old Dawn Passage (Dawn Approach) in the Group One race at Eagle Farm.
Dawn Passage, an improving colt with wins at his past three starts, remains the horse to beat despite a barrier setback.
He has drawn one of the widest gates but there is an expectation, based on the typical running style of Waterhouse-Bott horses, that jockey James Innes Jr will push forward.
Providing Dawn Passage doesn’t have to use too much energy to get where he wants to, it is going to take a decent sprinter to catch him with 50kg.
Waterhouse’s closest finishes in the Stradbroke have been minor placings with Pharaoh (Sackford), Kingsgate (Danzero) and Shamekha (Secret Savings).
Trainer James Cummings is going all out to continue the Godolphin stable’s recent golden run in the race.
Godolphin has won two of the past three Stradbrokes and Cummings’s quartet of runners includes last year’s winner Trekking (Street Cry).
Trekking returns to Brisbane in Group One-winning form after scoring a last-stride win in The Goodwood in Adelaide last month.
Kementari (Lonhro), Ranier (Lonhro) and Exhilarates (Snitzel), complete the Godolphin representation.
Exhilarates is the only three-year-old filly in the race and she goes around for the second time in seven days with 49.5kg on her back.
She conceded three quarters of a length to Dawn Passage when runner-up in the Group Three Fred Best Classic over 1350m at Doomben last week but seems assured of an economical run from an inside barrier.
The last three-year-old to complete the Fred Best-Stradbroke double was La Montagna (Monashee Mountain) in 2006.
While stakes have been reduced to almost one-fifth of the 2019 purse, prestige will ensure the Stradbroke Handicap remains one of the most-anticipated races of the Australian season.
Stradbroke Handicap day will be much different to any other of the modern era as the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic hit home in Queensland.
Instead of three Gr1 races that are traditionally run at Eagle Farm, the home of Queensland racing, the Stradbroke will be one of two elite-level races on Saturday.
They will stand as the only two Group Ones of eight that are usually programmed throughout a winter carnival.
The Stradbroke is synonymous with Queensland racing as a 1400m sprint that was first run in 1890.
Two-year-olds will race for Gr1 glory in the JJ Atkins. The Atkins’ prizemoney has also been reduced and it will figure in a distance switch to 1400m from a usual 1600m test.
