Act Up has achieved a significant two-state juvenile double for Lindsay Park, outrunning fellow Victorian-trained colt Silent Intent to win the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill.
This important race win not only guarantees Act Up a spot in the next year’s Golden Slipper field due to its substantial prizemoney but also capped off a successful day for trainers Ben, Will, and J D Hayes. Their stable had previously celebrated victory in the $400,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) at Flemington with Soldi.
Act Up had previously finished fourth behind Soldi in the Debutant Stakes (1000m) last month. The confirmation of that form line from Melbourne gave the team increased confidence for Saturday’s event. “To frank the form line was always good. She was too fast for them down there, and it certainly gave us a bit of confidence saddling up today,” Will Hayes shared. “We were really keen to see him over 1100 metres, and we needed every meterage today.”
From barrier 16, Act Up ($8) was given ample room by jockey Nash Rawiller to settle into its race rhythm. Rawiller skillfully navigated a passage through the field in the closing stages, producing the colt down the outside to snatch victory from Tim Clark aboard Silent Intent ($5.50) by a long neck. First-starter Torshavn ($11) was the best of the remaining runners, finishing a further four lengths adrift in third.
“I knew I was going to be hard to beat at the 350 metre mark,” Rawiller stated. “He quickened well and came up behind them. Timmy’s (jockey Tim Clark’s) horse showed a fair bit of fight. I thought we had to dig pretty deep over the last 100 metres to go win the race. I think they are two nice horses going forward. There were a lot of inexperienced ones out there but the real clever ones, they just out their hands.”
Will Hayes indicated that the stable would monitor Act Up’s recovery before making a decision regarding its future racing plans or spelling. “We’ll see how he pulls up. There are lots of options, but he’s got $1 million in the bank now, so the autumn will certainly have a few big races on the agenda,” he said. “It was a terrific ride by Nash to go back and through. We were beaten for early speed, we were just hoping for an over-correction, which is what we got. Full credit to the horse, he handled the occasion. And full credit to the team. Our two-year-olds are on fire.”
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