Better Than Ready could be the next Queenslander to try his luck interstate following a narrow victory at Doomben on Saturday.
The More Than Ready colt was resuming after a last-start fourth to Hoss Amor in the Listed Hampden Stakes (1200m) at Doomben in May. He had been elevated to stakes company at just his second start after landing a huge plunge on debut at Eagle Farm in April.
Better Than Ready (3c More Than Ready – Sally’s World by Agnes World) finished strongly to down Reflectance by a long head in the Ormiston College Hcp (1110m) on Saturday.
“It was a good win but I want to see him put two wins together like that before booking the float down south,” trainer Kelly Schweida said. “There’s plenty of races around for him that look suitable in Sydney or Melbourne in the spring.
“He’s a very good horse but the penny still hasn’t dropped. I added blinkers today to get him to concentrate more. He got back a bit further back than I expected but had them covered at the 100 metres.
“It was only his first run back from a spell and he was still a bit soft. You don ‘t want them fully wound up with a long campaign ahead. The pleasing part was his time (63.76s) which was only a fraction outside the class record.”
A magnificent looking individual, Better Than Ready was a $140,000 buy at the 2011 Inglis Easter yearling sale. He is by Vinery champion More Than Ready from a winning half-sister to stakes winners Publishing (Testa Rossa) and Miss Mooney Mooney (Redoute’s Choice).
