Warwick Farm horseman Mark Newnham has a chance at a Golden Slipper Stakes win next month after his well-bred colt Diamond Tathagata scored an upset win in the Skyline Stakes 2017 on Chipping Norton Stakes Day.
The 2017 Golden Slipper Stakes is next on the cards for upset Skyline Stakes winner Diamond Tathagata. Photo: Steve Hart.
The son of Hinchinbrook raced first-up at Royal Randwick in Saturday’s $200,000 Group 2 Schweppes Skyline Stakes (1200m), earning a ballot free ride into the $3.5 million Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 18 with the victory.
On debut the up-and-comer raced on a Heavy (8) track and he got the same rain-affected conditions for his autumn campaign kick-off.
The first run produced a second beaten four lengths by the now Golden Slipper Stakes favourite She Will Reign in the Inglis Nursery (1000m) on December 17.
A trial in the interim had Diamond Tathagata spot-on for the Skyline Stakes where he continued to frank the ace form around She Will Reign who won last weekend’s Silver Slipper Stakes ahead of her start in the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.
It was an all-the-way win in the wet by Newnham’s galloper, ridden by Glyn Schofield in the set weights sprint.
Schofield had Diamond Tathagata quickly up on the speed from a nice barrier draw leading from the John O’Shea-trained Exceed And Excel colt Coruscate who came off a debut win at Canterbury earlier in the month.
Coruscate travelled along the rails, the fence the place to be at Randwick in the mud with the rail in the true position, and got a nice run throughout.
Gary Portelli’s dual runner-up Single Bullet meanwhile was racing fourth throughout without cover, doing lots of work and covering plenty of ground.
Once on the straight Coruscate ($5) and worked to the front, but the race was won in the final 50m when proven wet-tracker Diamond Tathagata ($9) got the better of his rivals.
Rounding out the Skyline Stakes trifecta in third was the aforementioned perennial placegetter Single Bullet ($5.50) in his third top three run from as many career starts.
Back this year’s Skyline Stakes winner next race and check out the latest Golden Slipper Stakes 2017 odds online now at Ladbrokes.com.au.
2017 Skyline Stakes Results & Finishing Order
Randwick Race 4 – 25/02/2017
| Place | # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Br. | Wgt. | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | DIAMOND TATHAGATA | Mark Newnham | Glyn Schofield | – | 6 | 55.5kg | $9 |
| 2 | 7 | CORUSCATE | John O’Shea | Brenton Avdulla | 0.2L | 5 | 55.5kg | $5.50 |
| 3 | 3 | SINGLE BULLET | Gary Portelli | Tim Clark | 1L | 11 | 55.5kg | $6 |
| 4 | 5 | EDEN ROC | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Tommy Berry | 1.1L | 3 | 55.5kg | $8 |
| 5 | 8 | DRACARYS | Peter & Paul Snowden | Corey Brown | 2.6L | 10 | 55.5kg | $4.40F |
| 6 | 4 | COLESBERG | David Payne | Tye Angland | 2.8L | 9 | 55.5kg | $9 |
| 7 | 10 | ALL DAY | John P Thompson | Joshua Parr | 8.8L | 2 | 55.5kg | $21 |
| 8 | 11 | SOUFFRANT | Peter Robl | Jason Collett | 8.9L | 4 | 55.5kg | $8 |
| 9 | 6 | EPHESIAN | Anthony Cummings | Robert Thompson | 13.3L | 8 | 55.5kg | $20 |
| – | 9 | CUBA | John P Thompson | Hugh Bowman | – | 0 | – | – |
| – | 2 | MENARI | Gerald Ryan | Tim Clark | – | 0 | – | – |
