Lankan Rupee has produced a scintillating display in taking out the Group 1 Lightning Stakes on resuming at Flemington last Saturday.
The Mick Price-trained gelding reminded us why he was dubbed the World’s Best Sprinter less than 12 months ago on resuming in last Saturday’s Group 1 Lightning Stakes.
A small field of six assembled for the 1000m Group 1 feature where despite his racetrack feats to date, Lankan Rupee jumped as second favourite to boom sprinter Deep Field.
It was a case of a proven top class sprinter against an up and coming talent and on this occasion it was the former who came away with the spoils.
Lankan Rupee sizzled down the Flemington straight and after stalking Deep Field throughout, levelled up with him at the 200m and rapidly drew clear, quickly putting three lengths on his rivals over the final furlong.
Brazen Beau and Deep Field has no response for Lankan Rupee’s electric turn of foot with all signs pointing to the gelding being back to the level he was at when claiming the Oakleigh Plate – Newmarket Handicap – T J Smith treble in 2014.
After being the first horse ever to claim this above mentioned treble, expectations were high for Lankan Rupee heading into the 2014 spring.
A quartercrack saw the gelding sport three-quarter race plates through the spring.
It’s not often a preparation which yields a Manikato Stakes win and three Group placings comes in below expectations however it was the case for Lankan Rupee following the heights he scaled during the autumn.
Lankan Rupee boasts a master rating of 132 from that autumn preparation yielded when claiming the T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
In 2015, Lankan Rupee will look to defend both his Newmarket and T J Smith titles and based on a Timeform rating of 130p yielded first up, the five-year-old is well on track to do so.
Two Group 3 races for three-year-olds were conducted prior to the Lightning Stakes with Wandjina taking out the C S Hayes Stakes (1400m).
Wandjina was resuming off a spring campaign which culminated in the Group 1 Cox Plate.
The Snitzel colt more than held his own in Australasia’s weight-for-age feature however was much better suited first up against his own age.
Leading throughout, Wandjina produced a determined victory as his lead up event into the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 7.
Returning a Timeform rating of 111, the run comes in six pounds shy of the colt’s master figure of 117 he achieved when placing behind Caulfield Guineas winner Shooting To Win.
In the other Group race conducted at Flemington last Saturday, Sweet And Speedy recorded her first black type success in The Vanity (1400m) for fillies.
She returned a Timeform rating of 99p for the display.
