LAZZARINI “STEELS” HIMSELF FOR GOSFORD CUP

THE best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!

It’s a well-known idiom which certainly rings true with Brett Lazzarini.

The Kembla Grange trainer had set Steel Blaze for last Friday’s $200,000 Wagga Gold Cup (2000m), but an incident in the lead-up to the race forced a change of plans.

“Steel Blaze decided to kick another horse near him on the walker at home, and jarred his hocks,” Lazzarini explained this afternoon.

“He was sore for eight or nine hours, and I wasn’t going to risk running him.

“He would have been fourth up and I’m sure he would have run well (the Cup was won by fellow Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker’s four-year-old Flying Bandit).”

Thus Lazzarini has had to look for another assignment and has settled on Saturday’s $300,000 Listed Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) at the metropolitan stand-alone meeting.

Even though it is a non-claiming race, Lazzarini has booked Molly Bourke, who with 22 wins, is only one behind Braith Nock in a keenly contested race for Sydney apprentice premiership honours this season.

Bourke is no stranger to the Real Steel five-year-old, having ridden him twice already.

“I’ve got no other option but to run him at Gosford,” Lazzarini said.

“It’s now four weeks since he last raced, and I’m not sure how he will handle the tight track at Gosford, although he has won at Canterbury.”

Steel Blaze last raced when runner-up to favorite Campaldino in the Orange Cup (2100m) on April 11.

“I expected him to run a nice race, but he did better than I thought he would,” Lazzarini said.

“Whilst the winner was too good for us, Steel Blaze beat the third placegetter easily.

“Even though this horse has had 24 starts, he still isn’t the finished product.

“I believe you won’t see the best of him for another 12 months.”

Whilst the Gosford Cup carries Big Dance eligibility, Steel Blaze’s second placing in the Orange Cup has already qualified him for either the Big Dance or Little Dance at Royal Randwick in early November.

“The 1600m is not his distance, and I’ll have to do something different for whichever race he runs in,” Lazzarini said.

In an open Cup market, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s last start Randwick winner Les Vampires holds sway at $4, narrowly ahead of stablemate New Endeavour ($4.20) and last year’s winner Hezashocka ($5).

Les Vampires also was an acceptor for the $500,000 The Coast (1600m), but has been withdrawn, along with another Cup runner Scarlet Oak, and Engine Room, who instead will contest the 3&4YO Benchmark 72 Handicap (1600m).

. Gosford this afternoon was rated a ‘Soft 7’ for the 10-race program, which begins at 11.15am.

The rail is in the TRUE position for the entire circuit.

Story John Curtis, May 7, 2025