Class shone through in Race 9 at Randwick this afternoon when Les Bridge’s star mare Hot Danish won the $200,000 Group 2 The Sydney City Lexus Shorts (1200m).
Backed into the clear $1.75 favourite to win at Sportsbet, there was some late concern surrounding Hot Danish after rain at the Randwick track softened the ground.
The brilliant seven-year-old is known to be not great on wet ground, but had won the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in the autumn on a soft track and managed to get up there again today in a gutsy and well-deserved win.
Following a slight delay getting the runners into the stalls after Kroner lost a shoe, Hot Danish and jockey Tim Clark broke fast from barrier eight but sat back from the early leaders.
Shellscrape took over to lead in the opening stages, with Tickets wearing blinkers today also racing a bit keenly up the middle.
At the start it was Shellscrape leading from Montana Flyer with Pinwheels in third, but soon Hot Danish started to come fast on the outside.
On the home straight Rick Worthington’s roughie Whitefriars put in a super effort to get out in front, with Hot Danish and Shellscrape also pushing forward making it a three horse battle for the line.
Shellscrape was on the inside with Hot Danish in the middle and Whitefriars having a career best run on the outside of the favourite.
With meters to go it looked like Hot Danish might not get there but she showed her class, pinned her hears back and the wonderful mare got the job done.
In the end it was Hot Danish ($1.75) ahead of Whitefriars ($31) in a photo finish for second with Shellscrape ($6.50) a brave third.
Trainer Les Bridge said after the race he couldn’t wait to get to Melbourne after Hot Danish did so well today, second up after a spell on a track that didn’t suit her.
Hot Danish has now won 16 of her 27 career starts for over $2.1 million in prize money.
The final race on the card at the Royal Randwick this afternoon is the $100,000 Listed Angst Stakes (1400m) where Shannara is the odds-on favourite and our top pick to win.
Check out the latest odds and lock in the best price on your picks at Sportsbet now!
2010 The Sydney City Lexus Shorts Results
| Pos | Horse | Margin | Price | Barrier | Benchmark | Weight | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 5.HOT DANISH | $1.80F | 8 | 118.00 | 56.5 | Tim Clark | Les Bridge | |
| 02 | 11.WHITEFRIARS | 0.2 | $31.00 | 10 | 89.00 | 54 | Jim Cassidy | Rick Worthington |
| 03 | 3.SHELLSCRAPE | 0.3 | $6.50 | 5 | 102.00 | 57 | Hugh Bowman | Chris Waller |
| 04 | 6.DEMERIT | 1.6 | $15.00 | 7 | 96.00 | 56.5 | Nash Rawiller | Peter Snowden |
| 05 | 8.PINWHEEL | 1.8 | $16.00 | 6 | 101.00 | 56 | Joshua Parr | Peter Snowden |
| 06 | 7.DAO DAO | 1.9 | $15.00 | 4 | 111.00 | 56 | Rod Quinn | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes |
| 07 | 2.TICKETS | 2.4 | $51.00 | 3 | 98.00 | 57.5 | Michael Rodd | Joseph Pride |
| 08 | 9.AL DHAFRA | 3.1 | $26.00 | 9 | 93.00 | 56 | Blake Shinn | Guy Walter |
| 09 | 10.MONTANA FLYER | 3.2 | $15.00 | 2 | 100.00 | 55 | Peter Robl | Gai Waterhouse |
| 10 | 1.ALBERT THE FAT | 3.9 | $12.00 | 11 | 107.00 | 58 | Corey Brown | Paul Messara |
| 11 | 4.KRONER (NZ) | 12.4 | $201.00 | 1 | 99.00 | 57 | Kathy O’Hara | Robert Price |
The Shorts Exotic Bet Payouts
| Bet | Horse Numbers | IASbet SuperPrice |
|---|---|---|
| Exacta | 5-11 | $41.54 |
| Quinella | 5-11 | $29.85 |
| Trifecta | 5-11-3 | $216.37 |
| First4 | 5-11-3-6 | $1,650.65 |
