Another day, another rich two-year-old race – trainer Bjorn Baker could only hope it’s that easy but he’s quietly confident Within The Law can keep the stable’s flag flying at Randwick on Saturday.
Earlier this week O’ Ole snared the Magic Millions Wyong Classic and Within The Law will be out to add to her Inglis Banner win from last month in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m).
Baker said it’s probably unfair to compare the two fillies, though Within The Law has been something of a surprise packet, but at this stage he doesn’t have to as they’re heading in different directions.
“O’ Ole has always been the benchmark in terms of gallops in trackwork and times but I think this filly has a bit of depth,’’ Baker said.
“She’s very workmanlike and I guess we’ll find out how deep she can go.
“She’s come through and done everything very well and easy and she’s put it all together. I was very impressed with her first start.”
The Warwick Farm trainer sent Within The Law, $2.80 with TAB on Thursday, to Melbourne for her first start and she showed race sense down the straight course as she tracked into it before pouncing and edging away late.
He’s bridged the gap between that win and Saturday’s assignment with a barrier trial at Canterbury where she finished a close fourth behind Memo, subsequently runner-up to O’ Ole on Wednesday.
“Her win at Flemington was excellent and I think she’s come on very nicely since,’’ he said.
“She’s had a trial in between, I thought she was very good that day hitting the line without a lot of urgency and was very good through the line.
“She’s very genuine, I think she puts in her best performances on race day. She’ll keep giving.
“She’s got a pretty good gate and Jason (Collett) will be able to ride her where she’s comfortable.”
Naturally, the $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m) run at Randwick on February 8 is the medium term goal.
“We’d love to go there, I think 1200m might even be better for her in time too,’’ he said.
Robusto carries the same colours for Baker and Darby Racing in the Group 2 $2 million The Ingham (1600m) and Baker has been encouraged by his improvement with each run since joining the stable.
He chased Private Eye home into second place in the Festival Stakes two weeks ago and while considered an outsider in the feature mile Baker said he has the platform to run well.
“He’s been running super races and gets into this race with Tim Clark on and we needed a good gate to try and hold him up,’’ he said.
“His last few runs have been excellent. He’s a group class horse going forward and another astute pick up for Darby Racing.”
– Racing NSW
