WHEN A WASHOUT MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, June 3, 2025

There is an intriguing twist in the tale of the Group 3 Fred Best Classic, which has been rescheduled and will now take place on Wednesday at Doomben after it was one of the races abandoned at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

The Doomben and Eagle Farm tracks have an entirely different makeup … particularly a marked difference in the racing surface when the ‘heavy’ or ‘soft’ rating sign goes up, … and a ‘soft’ rating is likely to be in play at Doomben on Wednesday … so, effectively, the Fred Best now becomes an entirely different race to what it would have been on Saturday.

The prize is a big one … not just because of the $174 000 that will go into the winner’s kitty, but also because of the fact the Fred Best winner will be exempt from the ballot for the $3 million Stradbroke on June 14, a much sort-after prize in itself.

And most of the big gun stables … the likes of Waller, Cummings, Maher, Gollan, the Archibald training partnership and Snowden, to mention a few … are shooting for it.

Soon after 2.20pm on Wednsday, one stable will be celebrating a win and the entry of their winner into the Stradbroke, not minding in the least at which track the success came. Others might have a different story to tell.

The rescheduling of two Group 1’s … the Queensland Derby and the Kingsford Smith Cup … following last Saturday’s abandonment, to this Saturday at Eagle Farm is also not without some repercussions.

Keeping Group 1 races at their original venue makes sense, but the adjusted timeframe will be problematic to some.

The Kingsford Smith is an important lead-up race to the Stradbroke and there is usually a pretty much perfect two week break between the running of the two races.

That was the plan … but it is not the case now. Those who accept for the rescheduled Kingsford Smith this Saturday will have a seven-day back-up into the Stradbroke. Those who don’t will be going into the Stradbroke off a longer break than they would have liked … and that dynamic has set a poser for a number of stables.

Joe Pride, the trainer of Private Eye, has already indicated that Private Eye will now not take his place in the Kingsford Smith. Jason Warren, trainer of Benedetta, has said he will run his mare in the Kingsford Smith while acknowledging it could have an adverse effect on her Stradbroke aspirations.

It is a conundrum for those directly involved in the decision-making process.

As far as the Queenland Derby is concerned, the rescheduling to the same day as the Queensland Oaks obviously takes the opportunity away from the fillies to complete a Oaks / Derby double … which is a rare achievement last claimed by Riva San in 2008.

So, last week’s washout will ultimately mean different things to different people.

The show goes on though and this Saturday’s meeting at Eagle Farm will now present an all feature race card headed by no less than three Group 1 races, The Queensland Derby, The Queensland Oaks and the Kingsford Smith Cup in what the Brisbane Turf Club is now marketing as ‘Super Saturday.’