Trainer Toby Edmonds sets sights on Magic Millions carnival with Whypeeo
BILLED as one of the best “off-season” three-year-old races seen in southeast Queensland for some time, yesterday’s 1100m scamper on the Gold Coast lived up to all expectations with Whypeeo repelling the late challenge of last start Sydney winner Shogun Sun.
The strength of the form had been franked 10 minutes earlier when Addictive Nature, beaten fair and square by Shogun Sun at Randwick last time, was a classy winner of the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality at Rosehill.
Trainer Toby Edmonds has been quite open about the opinion he has of Whypeeo, a son of the all-conquering stallion I Am Invincible who blew his chances at his most recent start.
On Saturday he jumped away well and produced a brilliant sustained display of speed to clock a winning time which was only half a second outside the course record.
Edmonds said he was unlikely to press on to a Golden Rose campaign and would instead focus on qualifying Whypeeo for the Magic Millions carnival next January.
“I think he’s a very good horse, but he just may be too brilliant for the Golden Rose,” Edmonds said. “He needs to relax a bit now. He reminds me a little of (stablemate) Sundance. He’s a far better horse than Sundance, but they can get a bit fried in the head if they keep doing too much early in their races.”
Jockey Jeff Lloyd said some work Edmonds had done at the barriers had worked wonders and Whypeeo was quick out of the machine on Saturday.
“He didn’t settle very well and wanted to overrace with the other horse in front,” Lloyd said. “That’s why I took him about three horses away from the other one and he settled better after that. I think he’s going to be a very nice horse once he learns to settle.”
Edmonds trained I Am Invincible at one stage during his career and is now having a picnic with his progeny, as he also has Magic Millions winner Houtzen and I Am Impinge by the Yarraman Park-based sire in his stable.
Source: The Courier Mail