Nothing Complicated About Our ELABORATE WIN at Newcastle

24 Jun 19

It’s very rewarding when a detailed plan comes together for our Loyal Dynamic Owners and that’s what happened for the ownership team of 3yo gelding ELABORATE (Excelebration x Laurinel Argie) when finally their horse was able to reach a trip of 2350m which really suited us, combined with driving rain, a bottomless Heavy track and a committed, well-judged ride aligned to score a tough win on Saturday at Newcastle.

Elaborate - Winning the TLE Newcastle Bm64 Hcp 2350m 22-4-19

ELABORATE won the TLE Newcastle Benchmark 64 Handicap over 2350m on a Heavy Track with 13 starters.

On the mud-heap they slogged it out in 2:30.60 coming home in 37.52.

Starting $3.30 second favourite, ELABORATE carried 58.kgs to defeat Prince Camelot 57.0kgs by a length with Financial 54.0kgs, a short half-head away in third spot

ELABORATE picked up the $16,740 first prize plus the $5,000 BOBS Bonus.

Elaborate as a Yearling

A very modest $50,000 yearling purchase, he has won at Kembla 1600m and Newcastle 2350m (whilst he also did win at Wyong 1600m however that was erased when disqualified on a blood irregularity).

ELABORATE has now raced in 14 starts: 2 Wins, 4 Seconds, 4 Thirds, 1 Fourth, 1 Fifth & $73,200.

Trained by the FREEDMAN BROTHERS, (Richard, Michael plus Will), ELABORATE is the model of consistency.

His 7 starts this preparation he has run: 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st & earned $61,660.

On Saturday, the race was run in driving rain and the deteriorating Heavy track resulted that after the race, the remainder of the meeting was abandoned due to the state of the track and poor visibility.

So it explains that a tough horse and a tough rider combined for a tough result.

The plan in this race was always to roll forward in the going from the wide 9 of 13 barrier draw and to either lead or trail the leader, dependent upon tempo.

On paper we anticipated that one or two may want to lead, so we were happy to sit in behind them, however if in these conditions they didn’t want to go forward, we were happy to do so.

As the gates clanged back, pilot Keegan Latham got Elaborate into a nice rhythm without pushing him, as our horse rolled over from out deep.

As they went past the post for the first time, Road To Blue Sky wanted to lead which was perfect, as Elaborate took second spot, one off the fence at the leaders hindquarter.

Then as the field began to sweep out of the straight, the rider of Cass’N’Black decided to go forward, trying to whip around the pair in front, 3 deep. Keegan saw him coming and pushed up on Elaborate which meant Cass’N’Black was forced to work hard to cross, burning a lot of fuel to get there.

It took Cass’N’Black until the 1600m to cross over us and sit at the girth of the leader Road To Blue Sky, whilst Keegan eased a length and got a beautiful trail in the one / one.

The speed they were going in the rain and slush was solid and the field strung out over 20 lengths by the time the field headed into the back straight.

The field stayed in their positions until the 700m when Cass’N’Black started to feel the pinch.

Keegan knew he had a tough horse underneath him but in these conditions, none would be able to show a turn of foot, so he started to stoke-up Elaborate, trekking 3 deep to chase the leaders.

As they swung into the home straight, Road To Blue Sky leading the fence, gave a kick and was 2 lengths in front of Elaborate with Latin Light having moved up to eyeball us on our outside.

Keegan was working hard, riding Elaborate with vigour and poise.

At the 350m it was now a two horse war between Elaborate and Latin Light as this pair dropped the others.

The duo raced hard for the next 200m until the superior toughness and staying credibility of Elaborate kicked in and as they passed the 150m, Elaborate had fended off Latin Light, who couldn’t respond and by the time they passed the 100m, Elaborate had put up a 2 length margin.

ELABORATE & a Happy but exhausted Keegan Latham returning to scale after the win

With the hard work done, Keegan allowed Elaborate to go to the post under hands and heels, whilst the runner-up and third horse were in their own war, making up a couple of lengths over the final 100m to finish a length away.

We were always confident that ELABORATE would get a trip based upon his genetics.

He is a son of Laurinel Argie who was an excellent miler to 12 furlong mare.

A winner of 11 races from 1113m to 2400m. A daughter of Palace Music (a sire of swimmers) she had 6 starts on soft ground for 3 wins and 1 second.

As a racemare she won the Gr2 Prime Ministers Cup over 2400m and was 2nd in the Listed Recognition S., 1600m, 3rd in the Listed Ramsay Stakes 1800m, 3rd in Listed AJC Tatt’s Cup 2000m, 3rd in the Listed Easter Cup over 2125m and 4th in the Gr3 Ipswich Cup 2150m.

Whilst her sire Excelebration was a European 3 time, Gr1 Winning Champion miler.

However as an early horse, Elaborate had failed badly on a soft track in Queensland.

This was his one and only unsuccessful race start and that was our only niggling doubt about a Heavy Track but he well and truly dispelled that negative theory.

Certainly it appears the older he gets the better he will be.

Laurinel Argie was unraced as a 2yo, an average class 3yo but was much better as a 4yo and at her peak as a 5yo.

The way our gelding is racing and on type, his best certainly appears in front of him as he matures.

Congratulations to our Ownership Team of ELABORATE:

Dynamic Syndications Racing Synd, Mr P J Kirkwood, Mr M Dodd, Mr P M Roberts, Mr P Pappas, Mr K Draper, Mr P J Woollett, Fitch Racing, Dynamic No 41 Synd, Mr R J Gall, Mr M Pattison, Mr C A Clark, Mr J R Murphy, EST N S Griffiths, Mr J N Allen, Mr R A Elliott, Dynamic No 42 Synd, Ms D M Hull

The win of ELABORATE was Dynamic Syndications 47th for this 2018-19 racing season and our 589th Overall Race Win.

Onwards and Upwards !