Grima steals break in premiership race on ‘amazing day’ at Randwick
Craig Kerry
A best-ever performance from her special horse and a breakthrough for the nation’s other mega stable were part of an “amazing day” for Siena Grima as she took stole a lead in the Sydney apprentices’ premiership with a treble at Randwick.
Grima went to 33 NSW city winners for the campaign, now three clear of defending champion Braith Nock, who was out suspended on Saturday and returns on Wednesday with five meetings left in the season.
The 23-year-old will be tough to run down, given her development under the guidance of legendary former jockey Darren Beadman and the backing of her boss, premier Sydney trainer Chris Waller.
Tazima, Grima’s first city winner and ride for Waller, made it three victories in a row and four overall for the apprentice when he overcame a slow start and three-wide run to take out the 1800m benchmark 88 handicap by two lengths.
She agreed it was Tazima’s best win.
“Especially with everything going wrong from the start, three wide with cover over 1800m. On this track it was probably more like 2000 with the ground we’ve covered, but he’s so versatile, he will relax for you, even after a bit of a dig,” Grima said.
“He’s just gone from strength to strength. You just know he’s going to give you every single chance and try his absolute hardest for you, so it’s easy to ride him like the best in the race.”
Waller indicated the 1800m Premiers Cup Prelude on August 8 at Randwick would likely be Tazima’s next start.
Grima earlier won the Midway Handicap on Perfect Justice for John Sargent then the 1100m benchmark 72 for three-year-olds on Benevac ($2.70) for Ciaron Maher. It was her first victory for Maher, the three-time Australian premiership winner who trails Waller in the national race this year.
“It’s an amazing training performance, he’s been running really great races and I was glad to get the win,” Grima said of Benevac, which cruised to an almost three-length win.
“It’s been an amazing day. It’s really great to get in front. It’s a bit bittersweet [Nock] not being here to compete with me, but that’s all right, we’ll just keep going.”
Bottoms up as Cold Brew hits the spot
Siena Grima had a treble but Chad Schofield and Cold Brew were the toast of Randwick after winning the eighth, a benchmark 78 over 1600m, on Saturday.
At a quiet winter meeting, Cold Brew’s large group of micro-share owners from Mustr Racing let out celebratory cheers and chants usually reserved for racing’s greatest days and champions, from high in the stand, as their horse made it back-to-back wins in town.
“We did the pre-race jockey and trainer report up there because we thought they might be a bit much down here,” co-trainer Will Freedman said.
“I did promise them I’d go and have a couple [of drinks] with them, but I think it might be a long one.”
Freedman said the four-year-old, now with five wins and four placings in 11 starts, would keep improving and get to low-grade stakes-level races.
Pollard has all kinds of emotions
The last time rookie Eagle Farm trainer Todd Pollard was at Randwick, he went close to having the best day of his life.
So it was a mixture of joy and relief for the 32-year-old when All Kinds Of Folk wore down Tambeloa by a half neck to give him a Randwick winner with his first NSW runner on Saturday.
Pollard, who opened his own stable in February, sent two runners to Randwick and was confident All Kinds Of Folk ($4.20) could challenge on the heavy track after an unlucky second last start.
He said it was his first time at Randwick since he was assistant trainer to Annabel Archibald (then Neasham) in 2022 when Zaaki went down narrowly to Nash Rawiller-ridden Think It Over in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Pollard was the stable representative that day, and he later moved to Queensland to set up the operation’s satellite there.
“Annabel had COVID, so I was here and it was almost going to be the best day of our lives, and old Nash stole the party,” Pollard said.
“But it’s unbelievable getting a win here. We haven’t even had 50 runners yet.”
The victory took Pollard’s stable to 10 wins, including two stakes-level victories, from just 46 starters.
Payne finds key for long-shot win
Veteran Rosehill trainer David Payne let $51 shot Proxima Dea do as she pleased to cause a boilover on debut in a thrilling battle with $1.4 million colt Defensemen on Saturday.
Promixa Dea, a $300,000 yearling, went stride for stride with Chris Waller-trained Defensemen before holding him out by a nose in the 1400m two-year-old race. It was part of a double for Reece Jones, who later won in another photo-finish, this time aboard Joe Pride-trained Zouripper in the benchmark 78 over 1000m.
“I said to him, make them stay, let her run along, because she’s got that big action and she could be all right,” Payne said of his instructions to Jones.
“And I think she’s going to get better over further, and maybe next prep.
“She’s always shown us that she can run a bit, but we were trying to pull her back in trials and she didn’t appreciate it, so I think she’s a filly you’ve got to let stride.”
Sargent finds perfect race to break through
Randwick trainer John Sargent was relieved to pull the right rein with Perfect Justice after he broke a run of narrow losses in the 1600m Midway Handicap.
Perfect Justice ($4.20) wore down The Mona Lisa under the urgings of star apprentice Siena Grim to win by a long neck and score a first win since last October. The four-year-old was a close fourth then second twice in Midways this preparation and Sargent weighed up a run in the 1800m benchmark 78 handicap instead before sticking to the Midway mile.
“The blinkers might have helped him concentrate a bit more,” Sargent said.
“I was going to step him out further, but I just thought this race looked better than the 1800 today, but he’ll go up. And with the track today, it was like an 1800. It was a gutsy effort on a very wet track.”