A superb rails hugging ride by jockey Nick Hall landed grey Linton a winner in Saturday’s AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) and broke the heart of home town favourite Buffering.
Hall brought Linton ($26) scorching along the inside rail in the last 50m to defeat Buffering ($6.5) by three-quarters of a length with Streama ($11) a long head away third.
It was brave Buffering’s ninth minor placing in a Group 1 race and it seems the gallant Queenslander may be destined never to win one of racing’s top flight black type events.
Linton’s win was a training triumph for John Sadler who elected to remain in Melbourne where the stable had four unplaced runners. But elated stable foreman Troy Corstens was happy to do the honours at Eagle Farm.
Linton went into the race chasing a hat-trick of wins after successes in Adelaide during the previous six weeks. Today’s win added $1million to Linton’s earnings which have now topped the $2 million mark.
“All credit to John Sadler…it was an amazing training feat,’’ said Corstens. “A while back he mentioned setting the horse for the Stradbroke and we I laughed.
“His two wins at Morphettville were good and there was no hesitation bringing him north.’’
There was a strong family connection in Hall’s win. His father Greg rode Innisfree to win the 1978 Stradbroke which was trained by his grandfather, Ron.
“Dad phoned me this morning to wish me luck,’’ said Hall.
“I backed off mid-race and he gave me a real good ride until the turn into the straight. I felt I had a lot of horse under me three-quarters of the way down the straight and thought I could win.’’
With the big crowd cheering on Buffering, Linton swooped along the inside for a spectacular.
Queenslander Spirit of Boom ($13) ran an honest race to finish a creditable fourth while Sizzling ($7.50) was seventh, about two and half lengths from the winner.
Source : Racing Queensland
