“Hold on to your hats, if you don’t wear a hat your toupee, your hairpiece, your curlers, whatever else.”
And with Dan Mielicki’s race call the Downbytheseaside Victoria Derby landscape changed in a flash after Captain Ravishing demolished his Friday night rivals, headlined by a 25.1-second final quarter.
“He’s a very special horse this one,” reinsman Mark Pitt told TrotsVision on Friday night. “You don’t see that very often.”
The performance has seen Captain Ravishing leapfrog Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave into Derby favourite in some early Derby markets, despite the latter pair also winning impressively.
On Friday night it was all about the clock.
Having his first start for Emma Stewart since crossing from Ahmed Taiba’s camp, where he produced two wins and a placing from five outings, Captain Ravishing and Pitt had complete control of the Colin & Heather Holloway 3YO Classic, following a leisurely 46-second lead time with a 64.1-second first half.
And then he opened, gaining separation with a 27.7-second third quarter before the stunning 25.1-second run to the line.
“I know it was pretty leisurely early, but to be able to run that time, it’s just remarkable,” Pitt said.
And there seems much better to come, with stewards noting that he’d “raced greenly”.
“He’s a very professional horse, he is a little bit green, runs around a bit but that will come to him,” Pitt said. “He’s very lightly raced. He’s just like driving a car, you put the foot down and he goes.
“He’s come in without a trial, he needed a bit of a run. It was a matter of where the other horses got to in the run and couldn’t let them get into it too easy.”
It’s a fascinating new name to add to what was already an intriguing mix for the Victoria Derby, which kicks off with the October 1 heats before the Group 1 final on Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup night.
Andy and Kate Gath’s Catch A Wave has been the buzz horse for much of the lead-up and was, true to form, temperamental in the score up in Saturday night’s Download The TAB App Today Pace before settling when the gates opened and carving out his 11th win from 13 starts.
“Last time he was pretty switched and he felt terrific and tonight he was a little bit switching on and off but we know he can run time,” Kate Gath told TrotsVision.
He starting $1.07 favourite and punters who took a short quote would have been comfortable as he rattled him in 55.3 seconds to win by five metres from Mighty Flying Art.
“He won easily, which is a good sign, and just hopefully he can keep putting little things together and get the job done and show people what he can do,” Gath said.
The others to interest across the weekend were Ray Green’s three-year-old pair.
First was Simply Sam, who was four back on the pegs in the Colin & Heather Holloway 3YO Classic and in no place to react when Captain Ravishing gave them all windburn. In the end he ran into fourth some 42 metres off the pace.
The following night Green’s other entrant, Argyle, scored in the Logical Staffing Solutions Pace for reinsman Nathan Jack, who tried to hold the lead from gate one but was crossed by Gilligans Island.
Jack then sat in wait until an inside run opened and was able to nose out Sheffield Sparky and Magic Mike to open Green’s account in Australia.
“It was quite a good effort,” Jack told TrotsVision. “He’s only a three-year-old racing the older ones and I’m sure by the look of him he’ll improve a lot too with a couple of runs like the rest of Ray’s I think.”
WATCH CAPTAIN RAVISHING’S STUNNING WIN
