Second on debut when just three parts of a length off the winner at Pakenham, the James Cummings’ trained Observer (Ghaiyyath) looked sensational as he made a mess of his rivals to score over 1400m in the Tile Importer Handicap on the Sandown Lakeside course.
Jumping away from the outside barrier, Mark Zahra allowed the two-year-old colt to go forward and under his own steam, crossing the field to settle in the lead with fellow Godolphin raced colt Wentworth Falls (Too Darn Hot), who was forced to race wide for a period before settling in second for the Anthony and Sam Freedman stable.
Controlling the race on the odds on favourite, Zahra upped the ante as the colt entered the home straight, extending away in the manner of a nice horse, eventually eased down to win by five lengths from Wentworth Falls with a further two and three-quarter lengths back to the third placed Sky Deel (Dundeel).
Observer is a son of the unraced Lonhro mare Smooth, herself a sister to Coolmore’s Pierro and to the dam of recent Inglis Chairman’s sale graduate Estriella (I Am Invincible), a $2.8m purchase by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier.
A half-sister to Group 3 winner Sandpaper (Snitzel), Observer is the third winner from three runners out of Smooth with her fourth foal being a colt from the first crop of Champion Anamoe (Street Boss), while the mare is due to foal in the Spring to Group 1 Newmarket Handicap winner Cylinder (Exceed And Excel).
Joining Godolphin’s recent winner Crocodile as the just the second Australian winner for Ghaiyyath, the multiple Group 1-winning son of Dubawi will not shuttle to Australia in the spring but will stay in the northern hemisphere where he has been represented by 26 winners led by the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux winner Mandanaba.
