The Newmarket HCP straight 6

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Exceed And Excel has a look at the straight six


Tim Martin's Exceed And Excel had his first look at the Flemington straight this morning as he prepares for the $1M Group I Newmarket Handicap (1200m) on Saturday.

Regular race rider Corey Brown was unable to ride him today as he has suffered a minor ankle injury, so local rider Stephen Baster hopped on for Martin.

Exceed And Excel only had a quiet work out and Martin will probably look to breezing him up again on Thursday.

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By Patrick Bartley
March 2, 2004

Newcastle trainer David Atkins has snapped up leading jockey Damien Oliver to ride Impaler in Saturday's group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington.

Atkins decided to back up the colt up from his all-the-way win in last Saturday's Hobartville Stakes at Randwick and he will join an imposing interstate contingent, including Our Egyptian Raine, Exceed And Excel, Victory Vein, Grand Armee, Into The Night, Kablammo, Dance The Waves and Regimental Gal, among the 21 entries for the $1 million sprint.

Impaler, who will be floated to Melbourne tomorrow, strung together five wins before running third behind Exceed And Excel in the Royal Sovereign Stakes two starts back.

Atkins was delighted with the way Impaler pulled up from the Hobartville Stakes, in which he went straight to the front and was able to dictate his own terms.

Oliver now has a great chance of adding to his two Newmarket victories on Schillaci (1992) and Toledo (2001).

In other Newmarket bookings, Dan Nikolic will partner the Gai Waterhouse-trained Grand Armee, and Danny Beasley, who won last year's Doncaster Handicap on Grand Armee, will ride Victory Vein.

One entrant who will not take her place in the Newmarket field is champion sprinting mare Spinning Hill, who has been retired following a lacklustre first-up run in the Lightning Stakes.

The seven-year-old won 14 races from 40 starts, including three at group 1 level, and had 14 placings for prizemoney of almost $2.3 million.

Spikes, the two-year-old brother of superstar Lonhro and Niello, will make his debut in the group 3 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m) at Warwick Farm on Saturday.

Trainer John Hawkes said he was happy with Spikes, who ran second in a barrier trial at Hawkesbury last week. "He's a nice colt, more like Niello than Lonhro," he said.

- with AAP


This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/01/1078117362699.html