Weight May Force Wa's Best Horse To Be Moved To Melbourne
The Age
Friday December 19, 2008
ONE OF racing's emerging stars, Gilded Venom, may be relocated to a Melbourne stable next year as trainer and part-owner Steve Wallace believes he will be handicapped out of racing in Perth.
Gilded Venom, who won Wednesday's group 2 Cox Stakes at Ascot to take his earnings past $1million, will be spelled immediately following his third group win this campaign, but Wallace conceded he may return to racing under the guidance of an eastern-states trainer in his next campaign."I'd certainly love to take him but it's not that easy," he said this week. "We'll let the dust settle from this campaign and look at our options while he's having a nice spell. He's earned it."Wallace and wife Jill, who part-own Gilded Venom with the stable's longtime clients Neil and Beryl Whologan, are devoted to their son Guy, who trained under Olympian Heath Ryan to become a level 1 coach and skilful eventing and dressage rider until an accident in 2002 left him a quadriplegic.Gilded Venom has emerged from nowhere this campaign to become one of racing's brightest prospects for 2009. The Cox Stakes win over 2100 metres was only the second time he had raced beyond 2000 metres and he shapes as a possible Caulfield Cup or even Cox Plate horse next spring if he continues to improve at his current rate.The five-year-old began the new racing season with a win in a nondescript restricted class race at Belmont Park but finished his campaign as Perth's best galloper.Wallace bought Gilded Venom, by Golden Snake from Daughter's Charm, at the Perth Magic Millions premier yearling sale for $20,000 and he has now earned $1.13 million from 20 starts. Only last month he won WA's biggest race, the $1million Railway Stakes.He is a half-brother to WA's outstanding three-year-old of last season, Scenic Blast, who chased home racing's current horse of the year, Weekend Hussler, in last year's Caulfield Guineas.Wallace, 63, attributes the improvement in the horse to maturity. "Early on, he would hit the front and then pull up," he said. "He really does seem to have become the professional racehorse now."He is a good traveller and good to do anything with because he is so laid back."Gilded Venom has been weighted at 58.5 kilograms for the Perth Cup on January 1 but will be spelling in the paddock.Victorian gallopers Annenkov and The Fuzz, second and third, respectively, behind Gilded Venom on Wednesday, will line up in the group 2 2400-metre feature.
© 2008 The Age
