A light-hearted Dylan Gibbons confessed that fellow jockey Tyler Schiller merited a portion of his riding fee, following his victory in the opening race at Rosehill aboard the Hawkes Racing colt, Marwooba.
The two-year-old was making a quick return after finishing sixth over 1250m at Canterbury on Monday, with Schiller in the saddle. However, Schiller’s prior commitments in Queensland meant he couldn’t continue with Marwooba, paving the way for Gibbons to secure the ride in Saturday’s Kia Ora Bloodlines to Headlines Handicap over 1400m.
“I probably have to send half of that fee to Tyler,” Gibbons admitted.
“He assured me the quick back-up wouldn’t be an issue, and he did mention they added winkers after he held his breath last start, so credit to him. But I’ll claim this win.”
Purchased as a $400,000 Magic Millions yearling by Wootton Bassett, Marwooba secured Hawkes Racing their second Sydney Saturday metropolitan two-year-old success in as many weeks, following Why So Hard’s win at Randwick the previous Saturday.
The juvenile was a late entry when nominations were extended, with stable representative Steve Thompson noting they decided to take a chance after the colt had a ‘soft’ run at Canterbury.
“His run on Monday was akin to a track gallop. He settled back from a wide draw and simply powered through the last two furlongs (200m) as if it were a trial,” Thompson explained.
“When the nominations were extended – this horse possesses a strong constitution – we opted to enter him and monitor his recovery throughout the week, and he’s responded exceptionally well.”
Given an ideal position by Gibbons, tracking the speed, Marwooba ($7) encountered minor traffic in the straight before finding an opening and launching his challenge towards the odds-on favourite Friendly Fire. Friendly Fire had taken the lead by cutting through along the rail.
However, Marwooba proved too strong for the last-start winner, crossing the line with a 1-1/4 length margin over Friendly Fire. Iminastate ($8.50) finished a further 2-1/2 lengths behind in third.
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