The Hobart Cup winner Bid Spotter returned from a disastrous performance in the Launceston Cup to win the Manion Cup at Rosehill yesterday.
Bid Spotter was unwanted in the betting and got home thanks to a daring ride from Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michael Rodd.
''I don't think there was any problem with the inside [part of track] so I snuck in there,'' Rodd said. Asked about the Sydney Cup for Bid Spotter, Rodd replied: ''The distance shouldn't be a problem. He'll need things to go his way''.
STAYING OVER
''I put my balls on the line with this one,'' trainer David Payne said after Sea Lord's staying career was terminated following his smart win at Rosehill yesterday.
Sea Lord is owned by the late Les Samba and Ron Medich, who is on bail on a murder charge. ''Ron was giving me a hard time when I dropped him back in distance, they thought he would stay, stay, stay, Payne said. ''See how they make fools of you with the breeding.''
At one point the Sea Lord team thought it had an AJC Australian Derby contender as the colt is by Street Cry, the sire of Melbourne Cup winner Shocking.
''He is not a stayer, all he is is a sprinter,'' Payne said. ''Another typical one, bred to stay but can't.'' Payne took the blinkers off Sea Lord, which burst through the inside under Glyn Schofield to win the Darby Munro Stakes from the favourite, Palomares, which had every chance.
JIM'S PUMPED
Jim Cassidy started the fist pumping shortly after Galizani cruised to victory in the Epona Stakes at Rosehill and it continued in the mounting yard.
Galizani, owned by mining magnate and sporting benefactor Nathan Tinkler, was crunched in the betting ring and Cassidy made sure there were no hard-luck stories. ''I really liked her work on Tuesday,'' Cassidy said of the staying-bred mare trained by John Thompson. ''It was a good result for John and Nathan.''
Galizani was backed from $9 in to $6 on course with as much as $17 bet when fields came out on Wednesday. Cassidy is hoping Tinkler and Thompson don't head to the Sydney Cup with Galizani, as he is confident she could earn good money at the Brisbane winter carnival.
NEAR THING
Gai Waterhouse's lightweight Doncaster Mile hope Pureness almost missed Rosehill yesterday, as the gelding was caught in a cross-town traffic jam and arrived on course 40 minutes late. The horse gave favourite backers a scare when bounding in the air on jumping in the Ajax Stakes but still charged through the pack to win for in-form jockey Glen Boss.
While the Sydney traffic from Randwick to Rosehill was a worry, it was a lot worse on the F3 around Wyong, with a truck losing a concrete barrier. Newcastle races, which are well patronised by Sydney horses, put all their events back a race.
RAIDS CONTINUE
Racing NSW stewards sent out another raiding party yesterday morning. Stables at Randwick, Rosehill and Warwick Farm were visited, and the regulators will continue their out-of-competition blitz. ''We were looking for the evidence of race-day treatments but we found nothing,'' deputy chief steward Greg Rudolph said at Rosehill yesterday.
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