By Adam Pengilly and Matt Jones
Gerald Ryan will set his sights on Gosford's Belle Of The Turf early in the new year to enhance Peace Force's value as a broodmare.
The five-year-old racked up her first Saturday win after transferring from John O'Shea's care to that of the Rosehill trainer and has impeccable bloodlines as a half-sister to Eremein. Eremein completed the Ranvet-BMW-Queen Elizabeth treble in 2006.
Peace of the action: Brenton Avdulla drives Peace Force (left) to the line on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images
"She's a half-sister to Eremein so all these races that she can win help her," Ryan said after Brenton Avdulla rated Peace Force beautifully in front. "A race like the Belle Of The Turf ... we might be able to get some black type. She cops no work and has to do a lot of swimming."
The freshness told as Peace Force bounced quickly from the stalls and pulled out enough to hold off the challenge of First Class Ticket. Ryan said a little bit of immaturity and slight knee problems had stifled the mare's progress early in her career. "She came to me a sound mare [from O'Shea] and I'm taking the benefits of it."
Meanwhile, Ryan might have added a key piece of headgear to turn around Skarsgard, but he is still trying to work on the brain of his free-wheeling front runner after training a Randwick double. After a slightly tardy start, James McDonald arrowed Skarsgard across from a wide alley and then lengthened in the straight to make it two wins from as many starts on the Kensington track.
"Eventually one day I do think he will make a really nice horse, but he's backward in his brain and he's backward in his body," Ryan said. "The cliche they will be better next time around ... I don't like saying that, but I think it will be true. His times that he's run at home and his trials – he's always looked as if he was a really nice horse. He's very dumb inthe brain and he's learning and he'll get there."
O'SHEA BACKS SHINN'S CALL
For a man juggling his jockeys with great success, Godolphin head trainer John O'Shea turned to Blake Shinn before his ride on Medcaut with no advice.
"Everyone looked at me when he walked away, but I just said, 'you ride him how you want to ride him'," O'Shea said. "He knows what he's doing, doesn't he? He's doing his homework and if we need to be doing it they're not the riders for us."
The tactic worked wonders as Shinn traversed a wide passage on Medcaut before he sprinted clear to cap another great day for Godolphin.
"He's just progressive and by a stallion whose horses get better as they get older," O'Shea said. "He's probably rock-hard fit [on Saturday] and we'll probably give him another run."
BIG FELLA WINS FOR ASPERY
Scott Aspery admitted he was pumped following Resurrect's third straight win on Saturday as the hulking five-year-old broke his Kensington track hoodoo. Resurrect flew down the outside and held off a strong-finishing Paris Match to win by a long neck for the Warwick Farm horseman.
"Had it been on the course proper I would have been confident, but when he raced on the Kensington last time he didn't handle it," Aspery said. "I was worried about how he'd handle the ground under his feet because he's such a big horse and he needs the ground firm to get rolling. He's a big boy. He's usually pushing 600 kilograms."
With on-speed horses getting all the favours on the controversial surface, Glyn Schofield praised Resurrect's effort in coming from the rear of the field.
"It was against the pattern, without doubt, but that's the way he's raced in his past couple of wins," Schofield said. "He never felt like he was in it until we got to the straight and I asked for a bit more effort and he gave me plenty."
MURT THE FLIRT TO STEP UP
Trainer Brendan McCarthy has his eyes on better races after the debut win of Murt The Flirt at Ballarat. The three-year-old son of Murtajill scored a comfortable one-length victory in the Magic Millions Classic for three-year-olds (1100m) on Saturday.
McCarthy is now eyeing the $1 million Gold Coast Magic Millions Guineas for three-year-olds on January10. McCarthy will give Murt The Flirt a lead-up race in the $100,000 Magic Millions Stakes at Wyong on December 18.
McCarthy hopes Murt The Flirt, a slow-maturing type, can develop into a group-winning horse. He said the gelding had shown promise in jump-outs and was happy with the way he was going before developing shin soreness.
"We actually had him entered to race and scratched him, so we thought we would just wait for the right race and aimed him for this," McCarthy said. "I know the favourite [Reigning Meteor] had nearly proved himself at listed level, but I thought we had a group horse, or at least a Saturday horse, coming into this and I'm glad it came off."
with AAP