The John Sargent-trained Casual Connection has likely earned a trip to Queensland following a hard-fought victory in the PF Civil Handicap (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The five-year-old son of Complacent had been racing consistently and was perfectly ridden by Sargent’s apprentice Molly Bourke, box-seating in fourth before issuing challenge rounding the home bend and bravely fending off his rivals as he went on to record the fifth victory of his career.
Bourke’s three-kilo claim proved the difference as Casual Connection, carrying 52.5kgs, narrowly defeated favourite Quantum Cat.
Sargent said the Kiwi bred was now likely to venture to Queensland for the Gr.2 Brisbane Cup (3200m), a quality handicap run at Eagle Farm on June 15.
“He was perfectly ridden by Molly and the light weight paid off in the end,” Sargent said.
“He’s a gutsy type of horse. He needs probably more speed on than that, but she got a bit of a jump on the turn and that helped, and he is a real whacking stayer.
“He might get enough points to go up to Brisbane for the Brisbane Cup and get in there with no weight. It’s worth a gamble. I went there last year with Essential Sky and he ran fifth, so we might go up there.”
Winning jockey Molly Bourke was pleased to get the victory on the handy stayer.
“He has been running very consistently this prep and I was glad to get the job done on him today. He is very tough. Every time I thought one was going to go passed us, he found another level, so I’m very happy,” Bourke said.
By former Mapperley Stud stallion Complacent, Casual Connection is out of the three-win O’Reilly mare Casual Fling, and is raced by the Davisons of Mapperley Stud in conjunction with the Sargent family.
A race prior fellow Kiwi bred Miss Jennifer came with a well-timed run under Jason Collett to land the TAB Highway Handicap (1200m) for trainer Danny Williams.
The daughter of Sacred Falls has now won four races and is a half-sister to stakes winner Seaway and Kiwi Karma.
She recently joined Williams after stints with Enver Jusufovic and Clint Lundholm and has won two from two from her new base.
“She was really good first-up for Danny last start, albeit in a small field at Goulburn,” Collett said.
“Today there was really nice pressure and I was probably fortunate there was a bit more easing in the ground than we initially thought at the start of the day and I think that definitely aided her.”