IBLE SETS A “GOAL” FOR HOME TRACK THE GONG RACEDAY
JOE Ible has been starring at Sydney Saturday meetings in recent months.
Now the Kembla Grange trainer’s next “goal” is to continue that form at his home track’s feature The Gong meeting on Saturday week.
Though stable star Barrengarry (who won two Midways in September) is spelling, Ible added another Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap to his resume at Rosehill Gardens yesterday, this time with Common Goal ($14).
And he says he has the option of two races with the lightly-raced five-year-old in supporting races on Saturday week.
“There is another Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap and a Benchmark 78 Handicap that day,” he said today.
“They’re both 1400m, and even though Common Goal won at 1300m yesterday, I feel he will handle the extra 100m.
“He is definitely going well enough to do that.”
Apprentice Coriah Keatings took full advantage of Common Goal’s favorable draw to take up the running, and he was never seriously threatened.
There was no bad luck at his 13th start as he defeated Wyongtrainer Kristen Buchanan’s Hellova Nature ($18) and Royal Randwick trainer Les Bridge’s Scintilla ($6.50) to post his fourth success (and first in town).
Ible had an interesting background story to tell after the son of Unite and Conquer had “choked” his rivals with a superb front-running performance.
“I bought Common Goal for $20,000 at the 2023 Inglis Classic yearling sale Highway session, and his breeder Matthew Sandblom (Horse Ventures) retained an interest in him,” he explained.
“Common Goal has been a slow maturer, and I gave him two starts early last year as a three-year-old and turned him out.
“At his second run back (fourth career start) after finishing second first-up at Nowra, he lost his rider Pierre Boudvillain at Canberra just over 12 months ago in a small field in a 1300m Maiden Plate.
“But worse was to come.
“Common Goal developed choke (a blockage in the tube carrying food from the mouth to the stomach) that night from eating hay.
“Fortunately we got to him in time.
“Common Goal had a good spell, and hasn’t looked back, breaking through at Queanbeyan in February and Canberra and Kembla Grange in March and April.”
Ible was especially surprised with the gelding’s starting price yesterday after his good first-up fourth in a 1200m Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap at Royal Randwick on October 24.
“The odds were bizarre,” he said. “Quite a few of his rivals finished behind him at Randwick and were ahead of him in the betting, and I was fairly confident he would get control of the race and roll along as he likes to do.”
HOOFNOTE: Ible has a long-range plan with Barrengarry(four wins and three placings from only nine starts).
“He went to the paddock after his close second in the Listed Sydney Gold Cup (2000m) at Randwick a week ago,” he said.
“All going well, I would like to have a crack at the Group 1 Doncaster Mile there next April.
“Barrengarry would get into the Doncaster with a nice weight, and a fast run 1600m at Randwick would suit him perfectly.”
STORY JOHN CURTIS, NOVEMBER 8, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS
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