There was
little joy from the Patinack Farm entourage following Reflectance's victory at
Doomben on Saturday.
Stable
foreman Brett Killion revealed the stable's stud manager Greg Atkins died after
being kicked by a mare at their Canungra property on Friday and dedicated the
win to his close friend.
"Tragedies like this puts everything into
perspective," Killion said.
Reflectance's victory gave jockey Michael Cahill a
winning double after the Gold Coast rider was successful earlier aboard the
Kelso Wood-trained Someday in the Benchmark 85 Handicap (1350m).
Reflectance, a $625,000 purchase at last year's Magic Millions sales,
upset a big plunge on the well backed The Storeman to score by a long neck with
Better Than Ready, a long head away third.
The
Storeman, from the in-form Tony Gollan stable, was backed from $9 into $5 and
looked set to score before Reflectance made a late charge to win by a long
neck.
Better Than
Ready fought on valiantly after leading to finish a long head away third in a
blanket finish.
Killion
predicted further improvement from Reflectance who was narrowly beaten by
Better Than Ready over 1110 metres at Doomben first-up.
"There's plenty of improvement in him and he'll probably head back
south for some better races."
but he took a lot of benefit from that first up
run," Killion said.
"He
had thrived leading up to this run."
Wood also capped a good day when Grey Assignment gave him a double with a narrow win
over Topping in the Mount Franklin Sparkling Open Handicap (2000m).
Grey
Assignment took his record to nine wins and ten placings from 33 starts.
The
six-year-old grey has been in career best form and has now won four of his 10
starts since transferring from the Kelly Schweida stable at the start of the
year.
Despite his
win Wood doubts Grey Assignment can progress past 2000 metres in the future.
"He
had a soft run and only just got there so I doubt he'll get any further,"
Wood said.
Wood will soon embark on a trip to Melbourne
with his star colt Sizzling who will resume in the $250,000 Blue Sapphire
Stakes at Caulfield on October 13.
Wood is
excited about the three-year-old's spring prospects following a recent jumpout
at Doomben.
The son of
Snitzel was the star Queensland performer during the winter carnival after
claiming the G2 Sires Produce Stakes and G1 TJ
Smith Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Racing Queensland webnews September 22
Photo:
Trackside Photography
