8 January 2016
BATHURST trainer Steve Turnbull is eyeing off his third Simpson Memorial with short-priced favourite Power Of Red at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday night. The son of Rocknroll Hanover is undefeated in five starts and after drawing barrier one, has been installed $1.40 by TAB.
Turnbull’s first win in the race came in 2000 when Smooth Satin defeated a field which included horses like Sailors Corner, Ocean Spirit and Jofess. The ten-horse field went onto win more than $4 million during their careers and is arguably one of the strongest Simpson Memorial’s ever contested.
The second victory in the event for the Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion winning horseman was in 2006 when Four Trumps was successful. While Four Trumps never rose to the heights of Smooth Satin, he finished his career in the USA and won more than $750,000 with a personal best mile rate of 1:50.2.
Turnbull has been quoted as suggesting Power Of Red is “a very talented horse and if he isn’t the best horse I’ve had since Smooth Satin then he is right up amongst them.” The colt sat outside Salty Robyn in the Chokin Stakes and went onto record his best victory stopping the clock at 1:51.8.
According to the market, the biggest danger to Power Of Red is the Darren Hancock trained El Major. Hancock did drive in the race won by Smooth Satin, however while most would assume he sat behind Jofess, he actually partnered the Vicki Bridge trained Franco Conquest into fifth while Junee reinsman Bruce Harpley trained and drove Jofess.
El Major broke through for the first win of his career last start when he accounted for a weaker field at Goulburn, however he has chased home Group 1 winners Our Waikiki Beach three times and Shadow Runner once in four of his five defeats. El Major is set to follow through on the back of Power Of Red and is likely to get the last shot on the boom three year old in the straight.
Another danger to Turnbull’s colt is Sams The Master, a gelding trained by Steve’s son Nathan. The son of Tell All has won five of his eight starts and was successful at his first run back from a long spell at Bathurst on Boxing Night but from a wide draw Nathan is going to need a lot of luck to topple his sister Amanda who will drive Power Of Red.
Two notable admissions from the Simpson Memorial are the Shane Tritton trained Salty Robyn and the Sam Dimarco prepared Shadow Runner. Unfortunately for connections Salty Robyn has fractured a tibia and will be out of racing for more than six months however is expected to make a full recovery. Meanwhile wet weather around Newcastle over the past six weeks has forced Shadow Runner to miss three trials and without a solid hit-out under his belt, Dimarco has opted to take his gelding to Newcastle on Saturday night.
The Simpson Memorial has been a ‘good horse’s race’ since its inception in 1968. Paleface Adios was the first winner to break the two minute mile when he won the event in 1973, while Koala King and Rip Van Winkle won in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Other winners include Karamea Duplicity (1983), No Identity (1990), Kingstar (1998), Shakamaker (1999) and in more recent years Chariot King (2010) and Iam Mr Brightside (2014).
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) is the controlling body for harness racing in New South Wales with responsibility for commercial and regulatory management of the industry including 31 racing clubs across the State. HRNSW is headed by an industry-appointed Board of Directors and is independent of Government.
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