POSTPONING Saturday’s Doncaster Derby day to today at Randwick might be a blessing in disguise for Voodoo Lad, one of today’s favourites for the $300,000 Country Championship Final (1400m).
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The Rod Northam-trained gelding, a 5-1, equal second favourite for the inaugural Country Championship Final, will enjoy a better surface than the Heavy 9 Randwick looked like being before stewards postponed the meeting until today.
“It’s better for him,” Northam said of the Tamworth winner of the HNWRA Qualifying Heat.
Northam thought Odyseesy Moon, his entrant in the $1million Sires produce (1400m would have handled the Heavy 9 okay, but Voodoo Lad might have struggled.
Mudgee trainer, Mack Griffith, who has top weight and Bathurst heat winner Binalong Road in the final, is confident his gelding will race better today.
“He ran third on a heavy track in Brisbane but he doesn’t have that turn of foot on the wet as he does on the dry,” Griffith told The Leader.
“I’d prefer racing today than what he would raced on on Saturday
“Everone is marking time down here but he’s feeling great, he’s ready to rock and roll.”
Binalong Road drew barrier 15 but will go from barrier 10.
“That’s ideal for him, Hughie (Bowman) can have him where he wants him,” Griffith said.
Tye Angland reckons a wide barrier won’t stop Without A Shadow winning the postponed final today.
Trained by Canberra’s Nick Olive, Without A Shadow will jump from barrier 15 in the 1400m event after winning Goulburn’s $100,000 heat on March 20.
“This is the final of the Country Series so I’m not just going to sit back and hope for the luck. We’ll go out there and make it work,” Angland said.
“I’ve done a lot of riding for Nick and the owners early in my career, so to repay them in the big one would be great, and this series has been fantastic for racing in the state.”
