Veteran sprinter Ball Of Muscle nosed out the hotpot Redzel to claim victory in the 2019 Group 2 $500,000 Hyland Race Colours Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick today.
Ball Of Muscle, above in yellow and green colours, holds out Redzel to win the Challenge Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Winning jockey Glyn Schofield wasn’t frightened to take on noted front runner Jungle Edge ($31) and took a narrow lead in the early and middle stages.
Schofield still had a tight hold on Ball Of Muscle ($11) on top of the rise and the Joe Pride trained eight year old fought on like a caged lion to hold out Redzel ($1.60 favourite) and got the judge’s decision.
The James Cummings trained Viridine ($12) settled in the second half of the small six horse field and was doing his best work over the concluding stages to claim third prize.
Pride is thinking of running Ball Of Muscle in the Group 1 $700,000 The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on March 23 and he is likely to clash with the Peter and Paul Snowden trained Redzel in the Group 1 $2.5m T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on the first day of The Championships on April 6.
“I think so (run in The Galaxy). It is the obvious next move for him. It’s never really been his favourite track Rosehill but we will certainly have to give it some deep consideration,” Pride said.
“Really proud of this horse. A lot of work has gone into him and very proud of the team at home and this horse. He’s old but age hasn’t weared him.”
“We just take the best care of him that we can. The rest takes care of itself.”
Schofield was proud of Ball Of Muscle who fight so hard to the finish to claim their tenth win together.
“What a fantastic horse he’s been for me, I think I’ve won 10 races on him now. He just steps up and comes out and does his best. He’s well named, he really is a ball of muscle. Fantastic for him to come back and win this race,” Schofield said.
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