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After finishing unplaced for the first time in his career in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington, slick sprinter Rain Affair returned home to take up where he left off, with another sustained display of pure speed in Saturday's Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Rosehill.
His job was made easier when the rising Melbourne star, Bel Sprinter, missed the start, but the veteran Winter King proved a thorn in his side early on, causing Rain Affair to over-race.
Under hard riding from Corey Brown, Rain Affair clung tenaciously to a neck margin over the 3yo filly Satin Shoes (Flying Spur) with Neeson (Mossman) a half-head back in third.
The Joe Pride-trained 4yo gelding has won 10 of his 11 starts in Sydney and finished second in the other. His overall earnings stand at $812,600.
All being well, Rain Affair will next contest the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick in a fortnight.
"He's so much moreeffective on wet tracks but having said that he's all courage," Pride said. "We're off to the T J (Smith)now so bring on the rain.
"I've been a bit soft on him since he got back home from Melbourne but he'll be primed for the T J."
A homebred for Don Storey, Rain Affair is the second foal of the Sydney winning Octagonal mare I Believe the winner of 4 of her 5 starts.
I Believe has a 2yo filly by Shamardal(USA),named Gullible, a yearling filly by Artie Schiller (USA), and a colt foal by Domesday.She was bred back to Exceed And Excel last year.
With seasonal earnings of over $520,000, Rain Affair is the leading earner for Darley Stud's admirably consistent stallion Commands who leads the nation once again for number of individual winners.
Group 2 - 1100m Class: Open. Track: Good. Time: 1:03.73. Sectional Time: 0:34.62 at 600m. Prizemoney: $175,000 - 1st: $105,000 2nd: $35,000 3rd: $17,500. |
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| 1 | 1. Rain Affair | Joseph Pride | C W Brown (3) |
$1.90
|
58.5 |
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 4g Commands
x I Believe
(Octagonal (NZ)
)Not Offered |
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| 2 | NK | 7. Satin Shoes | C E Conners | B Shinn (5) |
$31
|
54.0 |
|
 3f Flying Spur
x Star Satire (NZ)
(Volksraad (GB)
)Not Offered |
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| 3 | HH | 2. Neeson | Joseph Pride | M Rodd (2) |
$16
|
58.5 |
|
 5g Mossman
x Favorite Actress (NZ)
(Don't Forget Me (IRE)
)Not Offered |
|||||||
| 4 | 0.7 | 3. Bel Sprinter | Jason Warren | B Melham (4) |
$4
|
58.5 |
|
| 4g Bel Esprit x Gavroche (Snippets ) | |||||||
| 5 | 1.5 | 6. Elite Falls | J A O'Shea | J A Cassidy (1) |
$7
|
54.0 |
|
| 3f More Than Ready (USA) x Niagara Falls (Danehill (USA) ) | |||||||
| 6 | 2.9 | 5. Cardinal Virtue | David Payne | N Rawiller (6) |
$51
|
58.5 |
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| 6h Elusive Quality (USA) x Valourina (Snippets ) | |||||||
| 7 | 9.9 | 4. Winter King (NZ) | David Payne | M J Walker (7) |
$41
|
58.5 |
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| 5g One Cool Cat (USA) x Something Special (Bletchingly ) | |||||||
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