The Brisbane Winter Carnival returned with nine competitive races at Doomben on Saturday which saw several standout performances throughout the day.
Settling around midfield in the eight horse field, Impending found himself caught behind runners in the early part of the straight with jockey Tye Angland finally finding some clean air at the 200m.
Running on strongly over the concluding stages, Impending proved too good for his rivals, claiming a half length win over Most Important in second with I Am Excited not far away in third.
The James Cummings trained runner returned a Timeform figure of 117+, five pounds below his previous best achieved when runner up to In Her Time in the Sydney Stakes last campaign.
Having run to 119 when winning the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) last winter, Impending appears to be on a collision course with Redzel and In Her Time later this preparation and will need to improve again to be beating them you would think.
Impending ran to the same Timeform figure as 2017 Victory Stakes winner Music Magnate, the equal highest since Temple Of Boom in 2014 who ran to 119.
Heading off to stud at the end of the preparation, Impending will be looking to add another Group 1 win to his resume and he has given himself every chance off a very nice resuming effort.
Later in the day punters were left to wait for the judge’s decision when Villermont held off Dark Dream over the concluding stages in the Group 3 Gunsynd Classic with the pair leaving Omineca five and a half lengths further back in third.
Travelling up on the speed for much of the race, Villermont ridden by Damian Browne looked to have his competitors shot to bits on the turn but Dark Dream found a second wind to challenge strongly over the final stages.
With Villermont securing the win by a nose, he returned a Timeform figure of 110+ the same as his previous fourth placing in the Group 3 Carbine Club at Randiwck, three pounds below his midfield finish in the Group 1 Australian Guineas (2000m.).
The Ciaron Maher-trained runner will more than likely to progress to the Queensland Derby (2200m) although with all three wins to date coming over the mile he is yet to prove his wares over 2000m and further, his only run to date coming in the Rosehill Guineas.
Since 2010, Villermont is the highest rated winner of the Gunsynd by some margin, seven pounds above 2017 winner Dreams Aplenty.
Second placegetter Dark Dream who pushed Villermont to the very end also looks one to follow, yet to miss the money in seven career outings and running to a clear new peak Timeform figure of 109+.
Still lightly raced with plenty of improvement to come, the Kerry Parker-trained runner ran eight pounds above his previous best and could also have a big carnival ahead.
The other feature win of the day came from Torvill in the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1630m) overcoming the widest barrier to claim a one and a quarter length win over Another Dollar in third with Improvise third.
Coming into the race with a career peak Timeform figure of 110, Torvill was the clear class runner of the field and despite a betting drift out to $4.50 put away her rivals in the straight to claim her third win.
Torvill returned a Timeform figure of 103, the same as the last two winners of the race Imposing Lass (2016) and Dawn Wall (2017).
The three-year-old filly who raced consistently well throughout the Sydney Carnival will now chase a win in the Queensland Oaks (2200m) later in the preparation a race trainer Clarry Conners has won twice previously.
Marsupial was able to follow up his good form in Sydney with a half length win in the Makers Mark Plate (1350m).
Winning his previous start in a handy race at Warwick Farm and returning a career peak Timeform rating of 107, the three-year-old gelding ran to a Timeform figure of 100 on Saturday and could have more wins in store this campaign.
The James Cummings-trained runner has now strung six races together where he has not missed the placings and winning his last two could now be ready to follow through on the promise he showed as a two-year-old.
