FRENZIED has had an excellent 12 months on the racetrack. He became the
BONG BONG CUP Winner over 1560m on 22/11/19, the
WYONG CUP PRELUDE Winner over 2100m on 30/8/20, the
KENSINGTON TRACK RECORD Winner over 2400m on 30/9/20.
With a
True Stayers Pedigree, the credentials were behind our Dynamic 5yo gelding when he lined up as
$1.65 favourite to
WIN at Canberra on Sunday, over the gruelling
3400m in the
“Handle The Truth - ROAD TO THE JERICHO” Qualifier.
At acceptance time, there were 7 runners, coming from various points on the compass to attempt to win and receive an
“Exempt From Ballot” ticket into the
$300,000 JERICHO CUP to be run over
4600m (3 mile) at Warrnambool on Sunday 29 November.
From Mornington to Randwick, Cranborne to Gosford, Ballarat to Griffith – the running in Canberra of the
Road to the Jericho qualifier with double qualifying points, attracted war horses from far and wide.
However, with 3 scratchings, only 4 horses lined up for the feature spectacle.
The stayers test over the
3400m held
extra significance for connections, with
ballot exemption being granted to the winner, it became a
Golden Ticket into the race.
This event was the 6th and final “Exempt From Ballot” ROAD TO THE JERICHO qualifier in 2020.
The other
5 races have been won by:
Matas; Master Fin; Cuban Fighter; Dragon Storm and
Dambulla.
The
JERICHO CUP is limited to 14 runners, so it is important to earn ballot exemption, because the way into the race is via a point score system which is achieved under a 3-2-1 basis on all races at 3000m and further in the preceding 12 months. Then if horses are on equal points, the next qualifying is on Benchmark Rating and if that was the same, the third is on Prizemoney.
The Jericho Cup is run over 4600m to commemorate the fantastic story of the Australian Light Horse in WWI.
Approaching the end of the First World War in 1918 the Australian Light Horse were planning a major offensive against the Turkish Empire.
In order to lull the enemy into believing nothing unusual was afoot, a race meeting was organised on the eve of the assault.
The main race was called The Jericho Cup over 3 miles through the desert sands. The winner was
Bill the Bastard, probably Australia’s Greatest War Horse.
The Jericho Cup will be re-run annually from the 100th anniversary in 2018 to honour:
Bill the Bastard, the Australian Light Horsemen and their magnificent mounts – The Walers 1914 to 1918.
Fast forward 101 years, last year’s 2019 inaugural Road to the Jericho qualifier held at Canberra’s Thoroughbred Park, was won by local runner Ten Tigers. This year’s edition didn’t see any local entries, as the field was made up by visitors from up and down the east coast.
Dynamic Syndications sent our Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott trained FRENZIED down the Hume Highway and lined up as the $1.65 favourite in Race 2 the Handle The Truth - “Road to the Jericho.”
Given the perfect ride by our
“go-to” team member
Christian Reith, who drove down to Canberra for just the one ride, our
Gai and Adrian trained stayer was in a different class to his peers, when scoring eased down to a canter by 2.59 lengths over Da Deputy (55.0kgs) with Thermanator in third spot beaten 4.28 lengths.
FRENZIED covered the 3400m in a leisurely 3:44.64 but came home in a slick time for stayers of 35.84 secs.
Early in the race we thought he could have been
“fined for loitering” such were the slow sectionals, and co-trainer Adrian Bott laughed post-race when he said that the
“Canberra Racecourse may send us an invoice for trackwork because the win was so easy.”
Frenzied, owned by Dynamic Syndications clients carried top weight of 60kgs but we felt he was thrown in under the weight scale with a 55.0kg minimum, against country class horses, whilst he was bringing strong city form.
Pre-race Adam Watt from Dynamic was interviewed by Canberra Race Club for a story about Sunday’s qualifier, where he was very bullish about
Frenzied’s chances.
“He is the son of a Melbourne Cup winner, the Grandson of a Melbourne Cup winner so he should handle the trip, I think he’s got well in with the weights, he brings with him the best form and he’s back on top of the ground – he’ll win” Adam Watt said.
A win here would mean
FRENZIED gained exemption for the ballot into the Jericho Cup, a decision on whether or not he would line up at that stage was yet to be made.
“We’re not sure about his path yet” Watt said.
“Gai thinks he could be brilliant enough to win the Listed Christmas Cup at Randwick over the 2400m in mid-December, so we have a few options with him, he’s pretty talented.”
Sunday’s Road to the Jericho Day was an on course sell-out, with the long-distance spectacle proving popular with local racing fans.
The Handle The Truth - Road to the Jericho was Race 2 and was preceded by a ceremony at 1:20pm which included the
Ode and the
Last Post.
Christian Reith rode a beautiful race and the race panned out perfectly for us, as per our pre-race envisaged tactics which worked a treat.
Christian Reith was asked to go to the front and improve on his position, which is exactly what happened, allowing him to lead all the way to
record the softest of wins.
The field was only 4 runners jumped away and the event was just a battle of tactics.
FRENZIED was
superior to his peers on form and the race panned out that way. Despite carrying 60.0kgs top weight and giving the other 3 runners 5.0kgs weight pull, we wanted to take out any risk of bad luck in what would become a tactical affair, where these types of races can throw up some weird results.
FRENZIED had been
racing in superior class events. Four starts prior he had won the
Wyong Cup Prelude over 2100m, then
2 starts ago he set a new track record over 2400m on the Kensington circuit. Last start he was just 1.4 lengths away when 3rd over 2400m again on the Kensington track lumping 60.5kgs. Here he was dropping back to country class in Benchmark 85 grade.
We were
never in doubt that
FRENZIED would get the
3400m trip based upon his pedigree.
He is by
Melbourne Cup Winner AMERICAIN and on his female side, he is out of
PARIS TRYST - a daughter of Melbourne Cup Winner LET’S ELOPE, so he is certainly bred to
“stick like chewing gum to a blanket.”
Heading into the event, his form for a stayer was
superb.
FRENZIED now has a Race Record of 18 Starts: 6 Wins, 1 second, 3 thirds and $147,270.
As soon as the barriers crashed back,
FRENZIED was in front and never relinquished the lead.
Early in the event it was nothing more than a jog, trot, canter and then with 1000m to run, Christian slipped
FRENZIED some rein and the increase in speed had those chasing immediately off the bit, struggling to keep in touch. As the field swung for home, Christian gave our horse permission to streak away, which he did, breaking the hearts of those behind and then allowed
FRENZIED to just canter to the line over the final 50m.
CONGRATULATIONS to our Dynamic Owners of FRENZIED: Dynamic Syndications Racing Synd, Mr K L Bamford, Mrs C O Bamford, Mr S J Koukoulas, Mr N B Patterson, Mr C A Clark, Mr D T Warburton, Mrs K Tew, Ms P L Leeper, Mr J R Screnci, Mr A Pino, Mr S J Hodder, Mr C Melham, Mr J P Maxwell, Mr S R Minahan, Dynamic No 47 Synd, Dynamic No 48 Synd, Dynamic No 49 Synd, Ms S Kemsley, Mrs R J Watkins.
A magnificent individual to behold,
Dynamic Syndications purchased FRENZIED from Colleen and Kevin Bamford’s Daisy Hill Stud in Victoria at the
Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale for
$85,000 and he has given our co-owners a wonderful ride to date.
It is definitely now our intention to line up FRENZIED in the JERICHO CUP and the fact he is also
VOBIS Gold eligible where the bonus is available on the Jericho Cup, the race is worth $150,000 to the Winner plus a $20,000 VOBIS Gold bonus.
FRENZIED has had a solid preparation to date and the stable and our vets have done a terrific job with him ensuring he remains sound and right and racing to his peak performances.
This preparation his record is 7 starts:
6th of 12 K GR 23Jul20 1500m Soft6 BM64
4th of 12 NCLE 13Aug20 1875m BM64
1st of 5 WYNG 30Aug20 2100m PREL-BM68
2nd of 9 W FM 16Sep20 2200m Good3 BM72
1st of 7 KENS 30Sep20 2400m Good4 BM72
3rd of 5 KENS 28Oct20 2400m Soft7 BM72
1st of 4 CANB 15Nov20 3400m Good3 BM85
Finally, acknowledgement and credit goes to Adam Watt at Dynamic Syndications who has mapped out the perfect programme and has placed FRENZIED to advantage yet again, reaping rewards for the horse and the owners.
This win recorded Dynamic Syndications 677th Overall Win and our 23rd Win for the current 2020-21 Racing Season.