Trekking Nips Gytrash for Group 1 Goodwood Win

We do not make predictions or offer racing advice, so we will not claim to having anything other than a vague intuition that the favourite, Gytrash, while not outclassed completely, was priced too far below Trekking and Santa Ana Lane for Morphettville’s premier autumn sprint.

In the days leading up to the race, Gytrash was $3.50 with one bookie and jumped for $3.

Trekking had been quoted around $7.50, but support eroded and the five-year-old James Cummings prepared gelding jumped for $10.

It might be possible for Gytrash supporters to point to the draw, which had local hero Gytrash on the outside, while Trekking was ideally drawn from the sixth barrier.

The margin was less than a head, so fodder for discussion.

It seems at times that Goldolphin runners are deliberately prepared to raid the outer states, but that impression is not borne out by empirical evidence.

This was Trekking’s second Group 1 win. The other was the Stradbroke Handicap in Brisbane last year. Trekking, with a little luck, could have added Western Australia to his trophy case. He ran fourth in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot, but none of the runners in that race were in the same time zone as Hey Doc, which won by two-and-half lengths.

Trekking jockey John Allen is making the most of South Australia.

He won the SA Derby on Russian Camelot in the previous Morphettville weekend meeting. It was his first time on Trekking and Allen later said, “It was my first time riding him and when I got out to the mounting yard, I was surprised how small he (Trekking) was.”

Just big enough to nip Gytrash.

A rep from racing behemoth Goldolphin indicated that there is a strong chance that Trekking will head north and try for a second Stradbroke in Queensland next month.

Previous Magazine Articles