Million dollar earner Red Excitement will progress to the Group 2 $250,000 Villiers Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on December 16 after running third in the Group 3 $150,000 Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill last Saturday.
Red Excitement, above will line up in the Villiers Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Red Excitement will be searching for another Sydney Summer Carnival feature race win after claiming the Group 3 $150,000 Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick last year but trainer Gerald Ryan will keep the eight year old to the shorter 1600m of the Villiers Stakes this year.
“He ran third in the Festival Stakes last year and then went on to win the Summer Cup and the Gosford Cup,” Ryan told AAP.
“This time he will go to the Villiers.
“He’s passed a million dollars now which is great for the horse and his owners.”
Red Excitement’s third place Festival Stakes cheque of $13,350 saw him sneak over the $1 million mark in prizemoney earning to $1,011,420.
Red Excitement went on to win the Listed $150,000 Gosford Quarries Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) at Gosford following his win in last year’s Summer Cup but hasn’t visited the winner’s stall since.
The eight year old’s best run since was during the Sydney Spring Carnival when he almost brought off the upset of the year when he seemed to have the mighty mare Winx struggling to pick him up in the Group 2 $250,000 Tattersalls Club Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 2 but Chris Waller’s champion lifted in the straight under Hugh Bowman to claim the tearaway leader in the last fifty metres.
Red Excitement is set to clash with Festival Stakes winner Testashadow again in the Villiers Stakes.
The Gary Portelli trained Testashadow is also a member of the million dollar club with $1,337,252 in the bank after collecting last Saturday’s Festival Stakes winning cheque of $84,000.
“My original plan was to give him a couple of runs and then go to the Gold Coast again where he won the Magic Millions Cup fresh last January but we will definitely go to the Villiers now,’ Portelli said.