Vasari and Hayden Barnes annihilate their rivals at Albion Park in 1:52 flat in May. PHOTO: Dan Costello.
Vasari opens his account in New York with a 1:52.3 mile at Saratoga - and he jogged it
By Barry Lichter • 7 October 2019
Vasari has made a flying start to his American career with a dominant win at Saratoga in New York.
The former Lincoln Farms pacer, now trained by Paul Zabielski, started second favourite on Saturday and the result was never in doubt, the commentator declaring he jogged the mile as he hit the wire in 1:52.3.
Vasari started from two on the gate and was driven aggressively by driver Jim Devaux to cross the pole runner Delightful Joe after an opening 400 metres in 27.1.
Devaux kept his foot down throughout, clocking the next sectionals in 28.3, 28.1 and 28.3, finishing with something in reserve.
Run for a stake of US$11,000, the race was the first for Vasari’s new Saratoga Springs owner Keith Quinn since he bought him from Lincoln Farms’ John and Lynne Street and partners Ian Middleton, Rod and Sue Fleming and Peter Jeffares in late August.
The six-year-old flew to the States in the form of his life, with three wins and a second in his last four starts at Albion Park.
His 86-start career down under saw him bank A$150,000 from 16 wins, five in New Zealand for Ray Green, and 11 in Australia for first Sonya Smith and Anthony Butt in Sydney then Al Barnes in Queensland.
Barnes predicted on his departure that he would be ideally suited to the go-hard style in America, tactics which saw him clock a 1:52 flat mile at Albion Park in May when winning by more than 17 metres.
You can see the race on the following link - https://saratogacasino.com/race-replays/- just click on Saturday the 5th and then race 4 to view.
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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.”
