Highway races at this time of year are keenly contested as country trainers look to expose quality sprinters with designs on the $2million ATC The Kosciuszo (1200m) on October 17 and unbeaten Star Turn gelding Lord Remlap stated his case at Randwick on Saturday.
The Scott Singleton trained four year-old was first up from a spell and with three trials under his belt was ready to go with regular rider Mikayla Weir in the saddle.
Drawn wide, he had to be taken back, but still ended up racing deep all the way four and five wide doing plenty of work.
When angled into clear running, Lord Remlap worked through his gears and the hulking bay gave his all for Weir to get up and win by half a length.
Mikayla Weir is four for four on Lord Remlap and was thrilled to get the win after a tough run in transit.
“He was good all the way to the line today and as long as he’s got something to chase he’s the best horse,” she said.
Lord Remlap was an $80,000 Inglis Classic purchase for his trainer from the Fairview Park draft and runs for a syndicate of stable clients that include his breeders Frank and Christine Cook in whose colours he runs.
Lord Remlap has had four starts for four wins, collecting nearly $170,000, but his big pay day may come next month in the $2million Kosciuszo.
“I’ve got a bit of faith in him. I haven't had too many this promising. We've thought that even from before he had a race start, we were confident we had a good horse,” said Scott Singleton.
“He's still not the finished article yet, but he's big and he eats up, he'll come on a lot from that and there is a bright future for him.”
Singleton may look to give Lord Remlap one more run before the Kosciuszo next month.
“I'll just get him home and see how he is, but I would say possibly because I just want to get a little bit more race smarts into him if I can,” he said.
“He’s had a lot of trials and stuff like that. He's seasoned enough, but he's just going to improve again.”
Bred by Frank and Christine Cook’s Mystery Downs, Lord Remlap is the best of four winners from four foals to race from Devolving a metro winning Your Song mare that was also bred and raced by the Cook’s and traces back to the family of Champion 2YO Filly Victory Vein.
Devolving has a yearling colt by In The Congo and was covered last spring by Paulele.
Lord Remlap is another slick sprinter for Star Turn, a super good value option at Vinery this spring at a fee of $11,000.
