Classy Queensland three-year-old L’entrecote can take the next step of his rapid progression in the Class 3 Sky Racing Plate (1350m) at Ipswich this afternoon.
Kelly Schweida’s precociously talented gelding is second-up here after resuming in pretty good nick on May 3 in the Gold Coast Guineas, finishing 4.5L off the winner Dothraki.
It was always going to be a tall order for him first-up after five months but he worked home nicely enough and importantly produced a career-best weight adjusted Timeform rating of 90.
Dothraki has since gone on to boost that form, finishing just 1.1L off Havana in the Group 3 Fred Best Classic at Doomben on Saturday, beating home South Australia’s best three-year-old Hucklebuck in the process.
L’Entrecote is well back in grade today looking for a soft kill, and on paper only looks to have one genuine danger in Smart Huss, who we’ll get to in a moment.
The strangely named son of Dutch Harry has three wins from seven starts, and importantly they’ve all been orchestrated by jockey Jim Byrne who jumps back in the saddle today.
He won a Class 1 race here over the trip last campaign running to a figure of 81 with more to five.
He then met one better at Eagle Farm over 1400m before closing out last preparation with another win over this journey, this time at Doomben.
Schweida looks to have brought him back in superb order, and I’d expect he’ll only improve as he goes this time in.
Don’t be surprised to see him crop up in one of the bigger races over the carnival.
Smart Huss is an interesting galloper for the Meagher stable.
He flopped resuming on a slow track at Caloundra running more than 50 pounds below his best, but paid loyal punters back 12 days ago with a strong win at this C&D.
That run earned him a weight-adjusted figure of 85, and he looks to have more up his sleeve if last campaign is anything to go by.
Smart Huss ran sixth in the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate over this trip back in December beaten 2.3L by Enquare, producing a figure of 103.
Enqure was beaten six lengths in the Fred Best Classic last weekend, but in fairness was well off her best.
In any event, they’re big numbers for a Class 3 at Ipswich, and it looks an intriguing contest between the top two.
L’Entrecote is better drawn though and I suspect has more improvement, so we’ll go that way.
Bon Temps has claims back in trip for this but he doesn’t look in the same class as L’Entrecote or Smart Huss.
Otherwise, despite the big field, there doesn’t appear to be too much depth here.
Enjoy a cracking finish to the Ipswich program.
