Darren Weir celebrated his seventh Group 1 win of the season with Gailo Chop saluting for the punters at Rosehill Gardens putting in a gun lead-up to the Tancred Stakes Saturday week dominating the 2018 Ranvet Stakes results.
The imported seven-year-old continued his ace form on rain-affected tracks, relishing the conditions on Golden Slipper Day in the Group 1 $700,000 Ranvet Stakes (2000m).
The first of five Group 1s on the card, the Ranvet Stake saw Weir’s in-form chestnut have his first start in Sydney and Gailo Chop more than handled the other way of racing with a very nice win.
Atoning for the lead-up second as the beaten favourite at Flemington in the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), the $2.10 Ranvet Stakes favourite was given a gun ride up on the pace by his regular hoop Mark Zahra.
Zahra had Gailo Chop quick out the gates and settled second behind the pacemaker Classic Uniform, while the always honest Nick Olive-trained mare Single Gaze went into a forward position third on the fence inside of Prized Icon.
The big striding favourite looked very relaxed in the run, while Kathy O’Hara continued to stalk the top two aboard the Caulfield Cup runner-up Single Gaze who was coming off a fifth in the Australian Cup.
Looking to give her mount every chance, O’Hara pulled out on Single Gaze going three wide to take on Gailo Chop around the bend.
The top fancy however was far too strong and moved out to take the lead from a typically fighting Single Gaze ($5), Gailo Chop ($2.05) running away with the win from the 100m.
It was then a battle for second between Single Gaze and the Kris Lees-trained former VRC Derby winner Prized Icon ($13) who eventually ran third to round out the Ranvet Stakes trifecta.
Weir’s stable rep trackside Jarrod McLean confirmed plans to stay in Sydney with Gailo Chop on the short turnaround back at Rosehill on March 31 for a shot over the mile and a half in the Group 1 $1.5 million Tancred Stakes (2400m).
“Awesome…a big thrill,” McLean said of the Ranvet Stakes result.
“He’s just so hard to beat over 2000m.
“We’ve got to have a crack [at the Tancred Stakes], we’re up here now.
“There’s no Jameka [2017 Tancred Stakes winner] about this year so we’re happy to push that way with him and see how far he gets.”
Three of the past six Tancred Stakes winners came off a lead-up run in the Ranvet Stakes with Gailo Chop out to do the double for the first time since Silent Achiever.
Pre-Ranvet Stakes Gailo Chop was the equal $3.50 favourite in futures Tancred Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au but has now firmed into clear $2.20 favouritism.
To get behind Gailo Chop next race and lock in the best all-in 2018 Tancred Stakes betting prices head to Ladbrokes.com.au today.
2018 Ranvet Stakes Results & Finishing Order
Rosehill Race 4 – 24/03/2018
Place | # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Br. | Weight | SP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | GAILO CHOP (FR) | Darren Weir | Mark Zahra | – | 4 | 59kg | $2.05F |
2 | 8 | SINGLE GAZE | Nick Olive | Ms Kathy O’Hara | 3L | 1 | 57kg | $5 |
3 | 4 | PRIZED ICON | Kris Lees | Hugh Bowman | 3.2L | 2 | 59kg | $11 |
4 | 9 | CONSENSUS (NZ) | Stephen McKee | Jason Collett | 6.5L | 7 | 57kg | $26 |
5 | 6 | SARRASIN (GB) | Richard Freedman | Zac Purton | 6.6L | 6 | 59kg | $19 |
6 | 3 | HARLEM (GB) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Michael Walker | 6.8L | 5 | 59kg | $13 |
7 | 5 | VENTURA STORM (IRE) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Damien Oliver | 10.6L | 8 | 59kg | $8.50 |
8 | 2 | CLASSIC UNIFORM | Gary Moore | Tim Clark | 16.6L | 3 | 59kg | $13 |
– | 7 | THE TAJ MAHAL (IRE) | Liam Howley | Ben Melham | – | 0 | – | – |