Bondi Shake’s foot looks ugly but he’s completely recovered from a nasty infection.
Shake will rattle and roll from awful draw on Tuesday and hope for some overdue luck
By Barry Lichter • 31 May 2021
He might have an ugly looking hoof but that won’t stop Bondi Shake from hot footing it out of the gate at Albion Park on Tuesday night.
Lincoln Farms’ three-year-old hasn’t stopped improving since he recovered from a foot infection and has gone to the line untested in this last two starts, unable to find a gap.
At Albion Park last Tuesday, he became trapped in the one-one and only needed some luck in the run home to reward his followers at odds of $51.
“He’s busting to win a race,” says trainer Al Barnes. “It’s just a shame he’s got such a horrible draw on Tuesday.”
Bondi Shake (3) is snookered right in behind the leaders after being unable to get clear in the run home when full of running.Drawn the outside of the arm, Barnes says Bondi Shake will be out of the race over only a mile if he goes back so you can expect his son Hayden to chance his arm at the start.
“We’ll just go out hard and see where we end up. He just needs an ounce of luck to be competitive.”
Barnes had to cut a massive chunk of Bondi Shake’s foot away, all dead and rotten from the infection which stopped him in March.
“His foot’s not pretty but I had to clean it all up and ended up cutting about a quarter of it away.
“But it shouldn’t worry him while it grows back, it’s not raw, it’s just like cutting back a long fingernail.”
Barnes says Bondi Shake is working well and feeling good and is starting to develop into a nice horse.
“He’s showing a lot more strength - after being used up early he’s still getting home well.
“He can run a high 26 out of the gate - he’s learning how to use his gate speed - and he’s in a field that he could beat if he’d drawn better.
“It’s a similar quality field to last time but the New Zealand import Hemsworth looks like he could be good.”
Hemsworth, a last start winner at Gore in March for trainer Kirk Larsen, won a 1660 metre trial at Albion Park on May 18 in a mile rate of 1:55.8.
But drawn the inside of the second row on Tuesday he too will need some luck.
Bondi Shake races at 5.12pm NZ time at Albion Park on Tuesday.
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Ray tells why he rates Lincoln Lou clearly best of Lincoln Farms’ quartet in the fourth race
It’s all up to Angus - Brisbane’s young gun needs to drive a pearler on Nemo at Redcliffe
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Mark Dux’s comments
Wednesday night at Redcliffe
Race 1: Captain Nemo
7.17pm NZ time
“It’s a reasonable field, they’re not push-overs, but they’re all beatable. It will all come down to who gets the right trip. If we have something go our way we could get some of it as there’s not a lot between them and I don’t think he’s far off now. We’ve got a bad draw again and there’s a bit of speed inside us so I’ll tell Angus to just play it by ear.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 4: Lincoln La Moose
7.32pm
“He’s a pretty good horse. He was still below his best last time at Cambridge - he needed the race - but went very well for second behind King’s Watch. With his ace draw, he should be right up there for Zac (Butcher). He always looked a bit delicate but he’s got tougher.”
Race 4: Obadiah Dragon
7.32pm
“He’ll go a good race but our others look better here. His last run was below par for him so we took a blood off him and he had a bit of a virus going on. He was at the tail end of it but it was enough to stop him.”
Race 4: Lincoln Lou
7.32pm
“Even if he’s half a run short, I don’t think it will matter, he’ll still be too good for this lot. He only had a mild virus which came right with treatment and he’s trained on well since. He feels pretty good and if I was betting man, I’d bet him for sure based on his last run, which was massive.”
Race 4: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.32pm
“He’s in a ‘coming of age’ phase. He rushed up beside them last start and wanted to lay all over them and give them a hug. But that’s normal coltish behaviour. He does that in training as well, rushes up and switches off. He has a lot of ability but also a few little behaviour traits that we need to get on top of.”
Race 6: My Copy
8.24pm
“It won’t be easy from four on the second row but he’s very honest and, if opportunity knocks, he’ll be right there. If he gets a trip, he’s always ready to pounce.”
Race 9: Tyson
9.39pm
“He should be one of the favourites. The raw ability is there and he’ll definitely win races as he has a bit of speed. How far he will take us we have yet to find out but I thought he did really well last time given the run he had.”
