Talented colt
Better Than Ready could be the next Queenslander to try his luck interstate this
spring following his narrow win at Doomben on Saturday.
Having his
first start since finishing fourth at his second outing to Hoss Amor in the Listed
Hampden Stakes (1200m) at Doomben in May, Better Than Ready finished strongly
to down Reflectance by a long head in the Ormiston College Redback Handicap
(1110m).
Ten Gauge
was a further 2-1/4 lengths away third.
Better Than
Ready was sensationally backed from $21 to $2.80 on debut when scoring an
easy win a Eagle Farm in April.
Trainer
Kelly Schweida was thrilled to see the son of More Than Ready make a successful
comeback but played down the victory.
"It
was a good win but I want to see him put two wins together like that to see if
he's good enough for a trip south," Schweida said.
"He's
nominated for the Caulfield Guineas but he won't be starting in that.
"There's plenty of races around for him that look suitable in
Sydney or Melbourne in the spring but we'll have to wait and see how he runs
next in two weeks time.
"He's
a very good horse but the penny still hasn't dropped with him.
"He's
still got to lift a bit more."
Schweida
believes Better Than Ready is a superior horse than Nova Star at the same stage
of their careers.
Nova Star gave Schweida his only Group One win
in the Winter Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm in 2007.
Better Than
Ready, wearing blinkers for the first time, was turned out in magnificent order
by Schweida who warned there was plenty of improvement to come from the
three-year-old.
"I put
the blinkers on him to get him to concentrate more after he was a bit tardy in
the barriers last campaign," Schweida said.
"He
got back a bit further back than I expected today but he had them covered at the 100
metres.
"It
was only his first run back from a spell and he was still a bit soft. You don
't want them wound up fully when they have a long campaign ahead of them.
"Although
he wasn't at his peak, the pleasing part was his time which was only fractionally
outside the class record."
Racing Queensland webnews
September 8
Photo: Trackside Photography
