Manhattan Rain's lacklustre jump-out has Waterhouse hedging bets
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday September 2, 2009
HE MIGHT be worth $20 million according to trainer Gai Waterhouse, but don't bank on the regally bred Manhattan Rain winning at Flemington on Saturday.Waterhouse said she would add blinkers to the horse's gear for the group 2 Danehill Stakes (1200 metres) after a lacklustre trial at Flemington yesterday. The colt showed little dash and appeared to lose focus under jockey Nash Rawiller in a four-horse, 800 metre jump-out down the straight course.Manhattan Rain was easily held by fellow Danehill Stakes candidate Grand Harmony and the filly Rostova in an effort Waterhouse said lacked spark."We would have loved to see him jump and dash up the straight but it wasn't like that. It was a bit like 'Well, here I am,"' she said. "Back in Sydney he probably would have worked more brilliantly but he's in an area he's not sure of. He's certainly a lovely colt to do anything with, and I'm confident he'll run very well down here over the spring. But I don't know whether he'll take a race or two to do that."Manhattan Rain had six runs as a two-year-old and won the AJC Sires' Produce Stakes, as well as being placed in the other two legs of the triple crown €” the Golden Slipper and Champagne Stakes. The three-year-old half-brother to super stallion Redoute's Choice is by two-time champion sire Encosta De Lago."He's the most valuable horse in Australia. There is no more valuable colt anywhere in the southern hemisphere," Waterhouse said.Jump-out winner Grand Harmony, a $225,000 yearling half-brother to stakes winner Burgeis, has raced just twice for trainer Mark Kavanagh, and impressed first-up at Seymour last month when an easy all-the-way winner of a 3YO maiden. Kavanagh said the Exceed And Excel colt, who will be ridden by Damien Oliver on Saturday, had the ability to mix it with the best, "but I suppose it was a bit of a shock to see the ease with which he beat some of the major players".Kavanagh's stable rider, Michael Rodd, was yesterday given a clearance to resume trackwork on Monday after breaking a wrist in a trackwork fall five weeks ago."I'll probably ride two or three on Monday, and it all depends on how I pull up as to when I'll be coming back [to race riding]," Rodd said.Kavanagh has also booked Oliver to ride Cox Plate winner Maldivian first-up over 1200m on Saturday, as well as on colt Shamoline Warrior and four-year-old Dr Doute's (Sofitel Stakes).– Singapore's spring hopeful, Jolie's Shinju, had a solid workout at the Sandown quarantine centre yesterday but is not expected to reach top gear until the mare is taken to Moonee Valley to gallop on Tuesday before her Australian debut in the group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes at the track five days later.– A minor leg injury has forced Queensland's Oakleigh Plate winner Swiss Ace out of the Melbourne spring carnival.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
