The Virginian is Stradbroke Handicap bound after Chief De Beers win

The Virginian looks set to line up in his second Stradbroke Handicap after scoring a brilliant come from behind win in the Listed $100,000 IPG Marketing Solutions Chief De Beers (1050m) at Doomben today.

Jockey Jim Byrne, above, brought The Virginian with a well timed run to win the Chief De Beers at Doomben. Photo by Daniel Costello.

Last week’s Doomben 10,000 winning jockey Jim Byrne settled The Virginian ($8.50) well back in the field from barrier seven and brought him to the outside in the straight before gathering in the leaders to record a comfortable win in the end.

Highly Geared ($26) also ran on strongly for Michael Cahill to be three quarters of a lengths away second with $101 outsider Quelle Liaison catching the eye to fill third spot.

Trainer Toby Edmonds said that The Virginian appreciated the soft conditions at Doomben today and he will now press on towards a start in the Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 10.

The Virginian was only having his third race start when a surprise third at $81 in last year’s Stradbroke Handicap and Edmonds said that they will head to Eagle Farm again this year.

“He is nominated (for the Stradbroke Handicap) so that is our plan,” Edmonds said.

“It is good to have The Virginian back, it is a great effort.”

Edmonds also saddled up $7.50 chance Prompt Return with Jeff Lloyd in the saddle but said the last start Gold Coast winner wasn’t at home on the rain affected track and finished in eleventh position.

“The wet track changed things a bit,” Edmonds said.

“Quite a sharp horse (Prompt Return), but he doesn’t get through that going so good.”

Favourite Colinelle ($6.50) and Hidden Pearl ($10) shared the lead into the straight but both missed a place to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

Chief De Beers Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	8	THE VIRGINIAN	Toby Edmonds	Jim Byrne	–	7	54kg	$8.50
2	9	HIGHLY GEARED	Garry Kirkup	Michael Cahill	0.8L	10	54kg	$26
3	16e	QUELLE LIAISON	Michael Costa	Ronnie Stewart	1.1L	14	54kg	$101
4	6	SIR STATHAM (NZ)	Kelly Doughty	Kerrin McEvoy	1.2L	5	54kg	$26
5	14	COLINELLE	Steven O’dea	Paul Hammersley	1.6L	1	54kg	$6.50F
6	3	HIDDEN PEARL	Barry Lockwood	Brad Pengelly	2.6L	13	56.5kg	$10
7	2	INTO THE RED	Kelso Wood & Patricia Gesler	Luke Dittman	3.4L	2	57.5kg	$18
8	5	MR MANHATTAN	Joseph Pride	Corey Brown	3.6L	8	54kg	$8.50
9	10	MR FAVULOUS	Donald Baker	Luke Tarrant	4L	3	54kg	$21
10	12	MISERY	Darren Bell	Ms Tiffani Brooker (a)	4.3L	6	54kg	$8
11	4	PROMPT RETURN	Toby Edmonds	Jeff Lloyd	4.5L	9	56kg	$7.50
12	1	MOUNT NEBO	Allan Denham	Hugh Bowman	6.8L	4	59kg	$7
13	7	TEMPT ME NOT	James Cummings	Glyn Schofield	9.3L	12	54kg	$21
14	13	VIENNA QUEEN	Tony Gollan	Robbie Fradd	9.5L	11	54kg	$61