Big Day in Australia

The Herald Sun reported on Friday ...

Whatever it was that caused Xtravagant to combust at Flemington a fortnight ago — and also at the same track some months earlier — the talented but toey New Zealander is the conundrum runner at Caulfield on Saturday.

If Xtravagant has his mind on galloping and not gallivanting, he will win the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, according to his increasingly frustrated trainer Steve Autridge.

The Kiwi with the wandering eye is a $9.50 chance.

“Yep, definitely,'' the astute Autridge said. “But how would you know?''

Damien Oliver said he felt the same.

“He's a Group 1 horse. He gives me that feel for sure,'' Oliver said. “But I'm no wiser than anyone else about which horse will turn up.''

The “real'' Xtravagant is the most exciting New Zealand horse in many years, a sensation last summer when his handful of wins included a Group 1 by eight lengths.

Once or twice during that summer Xtravagant's “enthusiasm'' was evident in the mounting yard parade, but he managed to win regardless.

He seemed very happy to be in the Flemington parade ring when he came across to great fanfare for the Australian Guineas in March and seemed energy-sapped when he ran eighth.

A tendency for race-day arousal became a real problem when he returned to Flemington for the Bobbie Lewis ­Quality on September 16.

Xtravagant was both walking and swaying in the mounting yard and a leading Caulfield trainer all but dived into a hedge to avoid “contact'' with Xtravagant, who then ran a shocker, finishing last of 12.

 

 

Oliver isn't sure what caused Xtravagant virtually to stop trying in the Lewis — and he's ruling nothing out.

“Look, it's not ideal,'' he said of Xtravagant's eyebrow-­raising pre-parade.

“It can't help because it shows he's not really concentrating on what he should. But the straight didn't help him ­either. He never got on the right leg and just never stretched out at all.''

Autridge has some theories but no answers.

A leading Victorian trainer quipped after that Flemington meeting that Xtravagant was a victim of his pedigree.

“Those Pentires (sire) are all very colty. That's why they geld most of them,'' he said.

Autridge agreed. “Yeah, I've heard that and his full brother (He's Remarkable) was pretty much the same,'' he said.

“It might have been a ­Flemington thing.

“It's a big open course with lots of distractions. It might have been the straight. He just didn't adapt to it. So I'm happy to get away from Flemington, to be honest.''

 

 

Autridge trialled Xtravagant at Cranbourne on Monday. With Oliver up, he settled on the speed and surged to the lead turning for home but was eased right down to finish last.

“We were happy with that — just wanted to have a look at him after what happened at Flemington,'' Autridge said.

On Saturday, Xtravagant will be fitted with a chain instead of a bit in a bid to control his mind and will also enter the mounting yard before his rivals and be the first out.

Three of his 13 rivals are mares. Best be safe.

“Yeah, we're trying a few things,” Autridge said. “We're very happy with the horse. If he does everything right, I think he'll win, sure.''

Oliver said Xtravagant's ­occasionally extravagant race-day antics were a bit ironic.

“The funny thing is he's ­actually quite a gentleman,” he said. “He's not a raging bull or anything like that.

“But it's spring, so these things can happen.''

 

Back