The King’s Stand Stakes was run overnight, and interest in Australia was high, to see if Coolangatta and Cannonball could join the long list of Aussie sprinters that had triumphed in the race this century.
While the two three-year-old’s weren’t as well credentialled as the likes of Nature Strip, Black Caviar, Miss Andretti or Takeover Target were, Australian short-course horses are expected to more than hold their own on the international stage.
A downpour of rain on race morning put a dampener on our chances, creating a track with more give in it than connections desired.
Coolangatta had at least won her Moir Stakes on a soft track, and was competitive enough to run a placing in the Golden Slipper on a heavy track, but being by a renowned dry track sire in Written Tycoon suggests she is at her best on firm ground.
Cannonball had missed a place in all three wet ground starts prior to the King’s Stand, and the Snowden camp was on the record as preferring their horse to be on top of the ground.
Coolangatta jumped second favourite with the Tab at $4.80, albeit on the third line of betting on UK totes, while Cannonball was an easing outsider at 30-1.
The field broke into three groups at the start, before the wider two formed the main body of the race, with Coolangatta up on the premises.
Cannonball led a smaller faction of only three runners on the near side, none of which made any impression on the race at all. In fact, all three of them finished in the bottom five. The question remains whether the jockeys there badly misjudged the pace or the horses just weren’t good enough on the day.
Coolangatta sprang into action and was running a bright race through the first half, and looked like she might be about to ask the question at the 400m, but from that point on started going backwards through the field. She had no excuses given the quinella that ended up racing away were also up on the speed.
Ultimately, neither Australian runner could finish in the top 10, with Coolangatta struggling into 11th and Cannonball finishing the last of 17.
The trip from Australia to the UK is a long journey for any horse to undertake, and perhaps it was all too much for these young sprinters, which are still three-year-old’s by Australian time.
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