Blitzthemcalder will be the toughest for The Boss Man to beat in Sunday afternoon's Redwood Classic at Group 1 level
It is rare to see a horse win any race by over 50m.
But Russell Thomson’s Redwood Classic entrant did just that on debut, showing his rivals just who was boss.
The Boss Man will tackle a star-studded line-up of juvenile squaregaiters in the annual Group 1 Seelite Windows and Doors Redwood Classic over 2190m at Maryborough on Sunday, with prize money of $50,000 up for grabs in the stand-start event.
The Boss Man, who is one-out-of-one, will be trained by Thomson until this year’s Breeders Crown races are over before heading back to Scott Dyer’s stables.
Thomson said the son of US stallion Bacardi Lindy and former Dyer-trained mare Oh Yes Indeed had done everything that had been asked of him to date, and had been a lovely horse to work with.
“He’s always shown he’s a nice horse at the trials and at home on the track,” Thomson said.
“I wasn’t surprised how good he went first-up.”
Thomson said half the battle with two-year-olds was ensuring they trotted throughout their races, adding The Boss Man had only galloped once in a trial, and that was off the mobile start.
“He’s been good off the stand so far,” Thomson said.
On debut Dyer let The Boss Man stroll along at the head of proceedings in a Geelong trot before absolutely blitzing his rivals in the home straight, the deafeners never coming out as he coasted to the line 51.7m ahead of runner-up Smart Devil.
But Thomson admits Sunday’s Redwood field will be an altogether different kettle of fish to the July 1 demolition job at Geelong.
“It really is a nice field isn’t it?” Thomson said, adding Blitzemcalder was “definitely” the horse to beat.
“He’s done it all and we’ve still got to do it,” Thomson said.
“Experience makes a difference, definitely, but if we step cleanly and trot throughout then I’ll be happy.”
Blitzthemcalder, a winner of eight of his 10 starts, has drawn the pole for the Redwood.
The Ross Payne-trained and Chris Alford-driven young gun has been dominating races at Melton of late, with his only flop coming three runs back when sixth after breaking into a gallop.
Interestingly, Blitzthemcalder has won the same number of starts as The Boss Man in stand-start races, one.
Another contender is Bellmac Kody, who is trained by David Van Ryn at Maiden Gully and will be driven by Haydon Gray.
Another son of Bacardi Lindy, Bellmac Kody was beaten a head in the Tatlow Final at Melton four runs back and was only 2.5m behind Blitzthemcalder last time out.
The winner of the Tatlow, Sun Of Sonoko is also sure to have admirers on Sunday, the Ross Graham-trained-driven son of Sundon scoring an easy win over Invasive at Kilmore two runs back.
Lisa Miles-trained Roy Hobbs is another with strong form around Blitzthemcalder, beaten a half-neck last time out after leading at Tabcorp Park.
As always the Kiwis will play a role, with son of Monkey Bones Bonechip taking strong form into Sunday.
The Kiwi colt, trained and driven by Brent Mangos, has won two races from five starts.
Later in the day on Sunday the three-year-old trotting stars will contest the Seelite Windows and Doors Victoria Derby Trotters Final.
The Group 1 event, worth $75,000, will be run over 2690m from the stand start.
A star field has been assembled for the race, with Mark Purdon-trained Cyclone U Bolt, Chris Lang-trained Aldebaran Shades, Chris Alford-trained Triumphant Monarch and Jodi Quinlan-trained Sunset Invasion four the top chances.
