Jean Van Overmeire’s bold call to abandon several Newcastle rides in favour of a lone Randwick booking paid off handsomely as bargain filly Where’s The Circus stormed to a shock victory in the Inglis Nursery.
Having partnered the $1250 online purchase to an impressive Kembla Grange trial win, Van Overmeire was committed to riding her again once he learned she would target Saturday’s $400,000 two-year-old feature.
“It’s always a bit tricky to do that, give up my provincial rides to come here, especially when I’ve only got one,” he said.
“But each year this race is not always that strong and based on how she trialled, I thought it was worth giving her a chance.”
Where’s The Circus is trained by Paul Murray, son of legendary horseman Bede Murray.
Murray was part of the team during the golden era of stars like Victory Vein, Half Hennessy and Universal Prince and also tasted stakes success through Predatory Pricer. But he admitted the stable had been thin in numbers lately.
“It is getting very hard,” Murray said.
“I only had a handful of horses. I had to get rid of the older horses and try again with a few nice two-year-olds and it looks like it’s going to pay off.”
The Inglis Nursery (1000m) was reduced to nine starters after Billecart Blue was withdrawn at the barriers. From there, Where’s The Circus ($51) jumped brilliantly, controlled the race, and put her rivals away by 1-1/4 lengths over Internal Affairs ($2.70 fav) with Regal Hustle ($20) close behind.
Remarkably, the $1250 filly beat yearlings priced at $440,000 and the $1.2 million colt Vatican, the latter finishing fifth.
The fairy tale was slightly dampened when Van Overmeire was handed a careless riding suspension, sidelining him for three meetings between December 23 and December 29.
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