Aussie News - 20th April

By Adam Hamilton

ANOTHER week, another sub-1min50sec mile win for Cash N Flow.

The former All Stars’ gelding made in it three wins on end and 22 wins from 56 starts when he thrashed his free-for-all rivals again at Menangle last night (Saturday).

Driver Luke McCarthy took him to the front and gave nothing else a chance, roaring away to win by 13.6m over stablemate Cruz with My Field Marshal third.

Cash N Flow paced a 1min49.7sec mile. He’s broken 1min50sec winning his past three runs.

“He’s a dead-set miler and even though he’s that bit below our best horses, he’s so hard to beat at this level,” McCarthy said.

“He’s been drawing inside My Field Marshal and it’s probably been the difference. His stakemoney is getting up so, he might be outside him next time and it’ll be much harder.

“We’ll certainly just keep him to mile racing from now on.”

Cash N Flow was the middle pin of a training treble for Craig Cross, who also won Replaced Eye and Smokin By.

Queensland trainer Grant Dixon snared a training double from his Menangle satellite stable with Fame Assured and Makoa scoring.

And KerryAnn Turner continued her success with former Barry Purdon-trained mare Havtime, who made it two wins (and a second) from three runs since switching barns.

The shock of the night came when Kiwi filly Dr Susan, now in the Sonya Smith barn, was beaten as a $1.15 favourite in the Golden Easter Egg.

She worked to the lead, dawdled through a 32.1sec second quarter, but found nothing when challenged and finished third to locals Our Antonio Rose and Vincenzina in a slow 1min54.9sec mile.

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MIRACLE Mile winner King Of Swing won’t be back in action until August.

And it’s likely to be similar with Craig Cross’ other stable star, Alta Orlando.

The pair were being set for Queensland winter raids, but Covid-19 caused most of the Brisbane features to be scrapped.

“It gives us a chance to give them a longer break now,” Luke McCarthy said.

“It’s hard to know how the rest of the year will play out, but given there’s no big majors in Brisbane, we’ll bring them back to race in August and see if things are back to normal for a Victoria Cup in October.”

The obvious target is the Sydney Inter Dominion in November/December.

NSW officials have insisted the Inter Dominion will go ahead, but stopped short of confirming full details, which is to be expected given the climate of uncertainty.

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THE Hectorjayjay comeback story moves another step closer to reality at the Albion Park trials on Tuesday.

Managing owner Matt McClellan said the former superstar would be “asked to do a bit more” in this trial with a view to racing afterwards.

“If he does what Jack (Butler, trainer) hopes in this trial and comes through it well, there’s a race about 10 days later for him at Albion Park,” he said.

“Even though we’ve come so far, we know with a horse like him, it’s still a day-by-day thing.

“It would be so great, especially for Jack, if he could get back to races now we’ve got this close.”

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GREG Sugars put on a clinic at Melton last night (Saturday).

Sugars is a star in the open market, but the zone racing across Victoria now makes him an absolute standout in his zone, which covers Melton and Ballarat racing.

He won five of the eight races at Melton last night, three of them for Emma Stewart (Egodan, Freddy Funk and Two Times Bettor).

Young gun Ryan Duffy, really making the most of his increased opportunities in zone racing, snared a double on the card.

He won aboard Andy Gath’s former Kiwi pacer The Dude, in a slick 1min53.6sec mile rate for 1720m, and Bettor Be The Bomb.