{"id":268697,"date":"2025-07-17T07:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268697\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T07:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:12:11","slug":"has-there-been-a-more-consistent-horse-this-sydney-winter-than-storm-the-ramparts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268697\/","title":{"rendered":"Has there been a more consistent horse this Sydney winter than Storm The Ramparts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe\u2019s been going super. What generally finishes up these winter horses is the dry tracks, and he\u2019ll get one this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been on two dryish tracks and run well, but sooner or later one of them will pull him up. It\u2019s also his first start out of 78 grade, he steps up to a [benchmark] 88, but he\u2019s very consistent, and makes his own luck up in front. He\u2019ll be hard to beat again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storm The Ramparts is by Headwater, a stallion whose progeny are a bit like a poorly brewed beer \u2013 fizz and excitement early on, but prone to going flat quickly. Pride, however, said Storm The Ramparts had been able to improve with each preparation because of his mare, Quick\u2019s The Word.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s out of a really good mare, he\u2019s a half-brother to Dragonstone, which is probably what\u2019s carrying him along,\u201d Pride said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a dream horse to own. A lot of people don\u2019t like that \u2018wet-tracker\u2019 term for their horses, but it doesn\u2019t bother me. If he\u2019s a wet-tracker, he\u2019s a wet-tracker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pride also starts Estadio Mestalla and Accredited in the feature Winter Challenge, with his pair, and favourite Robusto, the three horses that all slugged it out in a finish a couple of weeks ago in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve got the market right, and I\u2019ll be shocked if my two or Robusto doesn\u2019t win,\u201d Pride said.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018He\u2019s a dream horse to own … If he\u2019s a wet-tracker, he\u2019s a wet-tracker.\u2019<\/p>\n

Joe Pride on Storm The Ramparts<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEstadio Mestalla is racing well and will make his own luck up front again, while Accredited, the turnaround from wet tracks to dry tracks, it\u2019s massive when you look at his record. He\u2019s a different horse on top of the ground. He raced on a soft 7 last start … he got through it, but not well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday\u2019s track will be much firmer, and he\u2019ll love it. They\u2019re both in their grade now, and I\u2019m happy to pick off races in their grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pride has a lot of time for two-year-old Reflect, the first horse he has trained for the Think Big Stud, whose white, black and yellow colours were made famous by late owner Dato Tan Chin Nam.<\/p>\n

The $310,000 Magic Millions purchase has already had one race start, but the big black filly has enormous upside, said Pride, which punters will see over time.<\/p>\n

Pride also confirmed several Godolphin horses that would be headed to his stable next month, including Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile, and Comedy, a two-year-old Snitzel colt that ran in the major lead-up races to the Golden Slipper.<\/p>\n

Thompson gives his Blessing<\/p>\n

Randwick trainer John Thompson won\u2019t have a runner in the feature Winter Challenge \u2013 a race he won last year with $31 shot Jojo Was A Man \u2013 but he is counting on the form and impressive fresh record of With Your Blessing to give him a winner at Rosehill on Saturday.<\/p>\n

With Your Blessing resumes in the July Sprint, an open 1100m handicap, after a 14-week spell and three sharp trials.<\/p>\n

The six-year-old raced just off the leaders before hitting the line in all three trials, winning the past two at Canterbury and Hawkesbury.<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n

With Your Blessing (yellow silks) wins at RandwickCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The encouraging return follows an excellent summer campaign which included wins at Randwick over 1100m and 1300m in benchmark 78 and 88 respectively on good going, and a photo-finish second to Iowna Merc in the group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at the track on March 1 in his most recent outing.<\/p>\n

Thompson believed With Your Blessing was \u201ca great chance\u201d to return with a win on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s won a couple of trials, and he\u2019s going really good,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a great prep last prep, and he is first up, and he normally goes well fresh. He\u2019s had three trials waiting for this race, so he\u2019s ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

With Your Blessing, a $70,000 buy as a yearling, has won $568,205 across 29 starts, including six victories and 10 placings. Three of those wins and two placings have come when the son of Vadamos and Super Trouper was resuming.<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s stable will be searching for back-to-back Saturday city successes after Bundeena won first-up at Randwick last week in a 1000m benchmark 78 handicap.<\/p>\n

The five-year-old Spirit Of Boom gelding, plagued by wide draws last preparation, made the most of an inside barrier and trouble-free run to win by one and a quarter lengths. He has drawn barrier eight with Alysha Collett to steer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s been going super. What generally finishes up these winter horses is the dry tracks, and he\u2019ll get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-268697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114867335683886822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}