Santa Ana Lane scored his third Group 1 win and successive Group 1 wins with a stunning victory in the 2018 Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben today.
Goodwood winner Santa Ana Lane wins the 2018 Stradbroke Handicap at Doomben. Photo by Jenny Barnes.
The Anthony Freedman trained Santa Ana Lane was coming off a last start win in the Group 1 $1m Darley Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville three weeks ago and the stable is now hoping to gain a slot in the 2018 $13 The Everest (1200m) at Randwick in the Spring.
“We will be picking up the phone if somebody rings,” stable representative Sam Freedman said.
Sam Freedman said that it was always the plan to bring Santa Ana Lane to Brisbane for the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival after his near last to first win in the Goodwood.
“He has always shown that sort of ability,” Sam Freedman said.
“He is showing consistent form which he never really had in the past.”
“We left a little bit in the tank after the Goodwood with the intentions to come up here.”
“He is a well-travelled horse and he settled in very quickly and had a couple of strong gallops and we couldn’t be happier.”
Santa Ana Lane became the first horse in history to win the Goodwood – Stradbroke Handicap double in the same year with jockey Ben Melhan in the saddle on both occasions.
Melham was able to give Santa Ana Lane ($14) a sweet run just off the pace from an inside barrier and settled the five year old on the heels of the Stradbroke Handicap favourite Champagne Cuddles ($5 favourite).
Melham elected to stay towards the inside on the rain affected track and Santa Ana Lane ($14) relished the soft going to scoot away to record a one and three quarters lengths win over the unlucky Super Cash ($31) who was caught wide for the majority of the trip.
Bjorn Baker’s three year old filly Champagne Cuddles didn’t have to do any work from the inside gate but found the first two placegetter too good on the day and finished in third spot.
2018 Stradbroke Handicap Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | SANTA ANA LANE | Anthony Freedman | Ben Melham | – | 3 | 55.5kg | $14 | ||
| 2 | 13 | SUPER CASH | Andrew Noblet | Jamie Kah | 1.75L | 10 | 51.5kg | $31 | ||
| 3 | 16 | CHAMPAGNE CUDDLES | Bjorn Baker | Corey Brown | 1.95L | 1 | 50kg (cd 51kg) | $5F | ||
| 4 | 3 | CRACK ME UP (NZ) | Liam Birchley | Jim Byrne | 2.15L | 4 | 53.5kg | $21 | ||
| 5 | 15 | PERAST | Paul Perry | Jeff Lloyd | 2.25L | 9 | 50kg | $6.50 | ||
| 6 | 10 | SHILLELAGH (NZ) | Chris Waller | Michael Dee | 3.25L | 8 | 52.5kg | $16 | ||
| 7 | 1 | IMPENDING | James Cummings | Damian Browne | 3.45L | 7 | 57.5kg | $6.50 | ||
| 8 | 6 | SPIETH (NZ) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Craig Williams | 3.65L | 16 | 53.5kg | $19 | ||
| 9 | 14 | INVINCIBLE GEM | Kris Lees | Brenton Avdulla | 3.95L | 13 | 51.5kg (cd 52kg) | $15 | ||
| 10 | 4 | ENDLESS DRAMA (IRE) | Chris Waller | Glyn Schofield | 4.05L | 15 | 53.5kg | $26 | ||
| 11 | 8 | MOST IMPORTANT | Tony Gollan | Mark Du Plessis | 5.05L | 2 | 53kg | $61 | ||
| 12 | 7 | FOXPLAY | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 6.8L | 14 | 53kg | $21 | ||
| 13 | 9 | THE MONSTAR | Brett Cavanough | Skye Bogenhuber | 7.55L | 6 | 52.5kg | $21 | ||
| 14 | 11 | CARE TO THINK | Matthew Dunn | Tim Clark | 7.95L | 12 | 52.5kg | $12 | ||
| 15 | 5 | VOODOO LAD | Darren Weir | Chris Parnham | 8.15L | 5 | 53.5kg | $18 | ||
| 16 | 12 | BURNING ION | Mark Newnham | Michael Cahill | 10.65L | 11 | 52kg | $26 |
