Youthful Jack Primed For Randwick Start
Story By Racing Editor Chris Scholtz
Tuesday, 14 October 2008:  | | Ross Stitt |
A brilliant barrier trial win at Port Macquarie last Saturday indicates Youthful Jack is set to fill the void for Taree trainer Ross Stitt left by the premature retirement of his AJC Oaks winner Heavenly Glow.
Stitt, the original trainer and part-owner of Heavenly Glow, was shattered when the mare had to be retired when she went amiss last month at the start of her spring campaign under the care of Rosehill trainer Allan Denham.
She was subsequently sold to Nathan Tinkler for a seven figure amount to join his Patinack Farm broodmare band.
The consolation for Stitt is he still training Youthful Jack after big overseas offers for the three-year-old were rejected in the hope that he can become his stable's second Group One winner of the year.
Youthful Jack has won seven of his 10 starts and his trial last Saturday showed that he is right on target to go on from the outstanding form he displayed in Brisbane in May and June when he won three successive races including the Listed Doomben Slipper (1200m) and Listed Australia Post Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm.
Last Saturday was his second trial after a slick 1000m heat win at Taree on September 22 but a much sterner test as he was matched against the classy Coffs Harbour-trained sprinter Nuclear Medicine over 1000m.
I was fortunate to be in attendance to watch the pair clear out from their rivals with Nuclear Medicine tracking wide and shading his younger rival for the first 500m.
However Robert Thompson had a huge grip on Youthful Jack and when the pair let down for the sprint to the line the 3YO showed real class to forge away and score by one and a half lengths in the fast time of 59.04 seconds.
The real merit of the trial was a brilliant final 600m sprint by Youthful Jack with the gelding clocking a sizzling sectional time of 33.19 seconds.
A check of time records revealed he is only the third horse to break 34 seconds for 600m in a trial at Port Macquarie in the last five years and one of those was Nuclear Medicine's top class stablemate Natural Destiny.
Stitt, always one to play down his good horses, was delighted by the trial.
He is going along nicely and that was a very good trial, said Stitt, who has his eyes on several Melbourne races for Youthful Jack including the $500,000 Group One Coolmore Stud (Ascot Vale) Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on November 1.
Coffs Harbour trainer Gordon Yorke is only lukewarm about a Melbourne trip for Nuclear Medicine, who has not raced since he completed a winning treble in the G3 Healy Stakes over 1200m at Eagle Farm in June.
The five-year-old Nuclear Medicine, who has recorded seven win and five placings from his 14 starts including six victories form his last seven outings, was also having his second trial last Saturday after winning a Port Macquarie heat on September 28.
I don't think he is going to be ready for Melbourne, said Yorke, who was taken aback by the way Youthful Jack exploded away from Nuclear Medicine in the last 200m last Saturday.
I may just take him along quietly and aim for the big summer sprint series in Brisbane in December and January as they will be ideal races for him.
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