In a sensational day of racing for Chris Waller, the Rosehill-based mentor secured his second of three wins at Doomben on Saturday in the $150,000 Group 2 Champagne Classic (1200m) with promising two-year-old Pressday.
Domesday colt Pressday ($8.50) managed a tidy 1 ¼ length victory ahead of consistent Queensland colt Spirit Of Boom ($7) with the previously undefeated local hero Buffering ($5) a further 1 ½ lengths back in third.
Third placegetter Buffering, who was attempting five successive wins, still ran a gutsy race as he set the pace early and fought on strongly to finish off the trifecta.
Equal favourites starting at $4.60 Adebisi and Smokin’ Joey were not disgraced finishing fourth and fifth respectively; Lee Freedman’s Smokin’ Joey sure to improve and impress over a longer distance.
The lightly raced Pressday, purchased by Waller for $38,000 at the 2009 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, has now won two of his four career starts for $136,650 in prizemoney and after showing his potential in the Champagne Classic on Saturday, will have a run in the $250,000 Group 2 Sire’s Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday June 5.
Pressday will continue on to the other two-year-old races at the Brisbane Carnival
If all goes well and Pressday impresses again in the Sire’s Produce, Waller will back him up in the most prestigious two-year-olds’ race at the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival, the $500,000 Group 1 TJ Smith (1600m) the following week on Stradbroke Handicap Day.
Earlier in the day on Saturday Waller’s impressive three-year-old colt Stryker kick started his trainer’s success with a win in the $125,000 Group 3 Fred Best Classic (1350m). Then after the Champagne Classic Waller took out the headline event of the day, the $500,000 Group 1 Doomben Cup (2020m) with Metal Bender, also taking home the third prize in the Cup with fellow stable star Triple Honour.
Waller has plenty of other runners starting in the major races throughout the remainder of the carnival, so get behind the in-form trainer and his horses at IASbet now!
Results for the 2010 Bollinger Champagne Classic:
Place |
Horse |
Trainer |
Jockey |
SP |
Margin |
| 1 |
PRESSDAY |
Chris Waller | N Rawiller | $8.50 | - |
| 2 |
SPIRIT OF BOOM |
Tony Gollan | S Katsidis | $7 | 1.3 |
| 3 |
BUFFERING |
Robert Heathcote | L Cassidy | $5 | 2.8 |
| 4 |
ADEBISI |
Desleigh Forster | S Scriven | $4.60EF | 3.0 |
| 5 |
SMOKIN’ JOEY |
Lee Freedman | D Dunn | $4.60EF | 3.4 |
| 6 |
BROADWAY HARMONY |
Darren Weir | D Nikolic | $11 | 3.5 |
| 7 |
JESSE’S GIRL |
Peter Morgan | B Shinn | $15 | 3.7 |
| 8 |
DEMANDING MISS |
Barry Baldwin | C Munce | $19 | 4.5 |
| 9 |
DEVINARDI |
Trevor Bailey | D Griffin | $41 | 4.8 |
| 10 |
SECESSION |
Peter Snowden | K McEvoy | $12 | 6.3 |
| 11 |
CHOSEN TO FLY |
Mick Mair | M A Hughes | $91 | 7.6 |
| 12 |
FASHION |
Clarry Conners | J Byrne | $16 | 7.8 |
| 13 |
DIVINE SCENT |
Tony Crane | M J Cahill | $41 | 9.3 |
| 14 |
STICKSY |
Murray Thompson | M J Walker | $151 | 12.3 |
| 15 |
POSH CHICK |
Kevin Moses | T Clark | $31 | 13.6 |
| 16 |
HIDDEN TREASURE |
Mark F Webb | S Seamer | $101 | 18.1 |
| Scratched: | |||||
| AUDACIOUS SPIRIT | |||||
| GENERAL SHAREEF | |||||
| MISS ORIELLE | |||||
| PLAYACTION | |||||
| STARTSMEUP |
