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Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 57546 Exciting Filly Scores On Debut As Clarken Oshea Weigh Up Blue Diamond Tilt

Exciting filly scores on debut as Clarken-O'Shea weigh up Blue Diamond tilt

Exciting filly scores on debut as Clarken-O'Shea weigh up Blue Diamond tilt

Hype filly Kuroyanagi was all the rage heading into the opening race at Gawler on Saturday, and the Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea-trained youngster made light work of her rivals, cruising to an easy debut win and keeping a Blue Diamond assault under consideration.

The two-year-old daughter of Written Tycoon – who was a $390,000 purchase at last year's Inglis Premier Yearling Sale – was a heavily-backed $1.35 favourite off the back of impressive trial form in recent weeks, and it was clear to see why when she loomed up to take the lead on the home turn with jockey Ben Price almost unmoved in the saddle.

The filly cruised to a comfortable 2.7 length win over her rivals and has been nominated for the Group 1 Blue Diamond (1200m) at Flemington next month, but metro premiership leading trainers Clarken and O'Shea are yet to determine what they will do with their promising filly – who is now an $11 fancy (TAB) in the early Blue Diamond betting markets.

"We'll see how she pulls up, whether she goes to the paddock or goes on," Clarken said.

"I'm more excited about training her into the three-year-old season, she's really raw and if you asked me six or eight weeks ago I'd say she wouldn't have gotten to the races.

"She's really come on in leaps and bounds in the last month, she came through my system, she was broken in at the farm and she was really backwards.

"She's just kept improving and kept improving, it's a little bit of a feat for one to come through the whole system."

Price was confident in the filly winning a long way from the line, but he also believes she has a lot more to learn.

"I was the winner a long way out, (she's) just a beautiful filly," Price said.

"She's going to need to switch on a little bit more when the company gets a bit better but she won well today knowing that she's got a stack of improvement to come.

"She's a racehorse that's going to learn a lot more after today. The way she cruised up, I thought I was going to put 4, 5, 6 (lengths) on them but you will be able to see in the replay her ears were pricked the whole way from the moment she got to the front.

"In time if they can run her a long a little bit and she can get a couple of pairs back she's going to chase really well – she's a lovely filly going forward."

Kuroyanagi was the first of two winners for the Clarken and O'Shea's stable on Saturday, with in-form mare Second To Nun saluting for her third consecutive victory with an impressive on-speed display with Rochelle Milnes aboard.

Story from Racenet (Tyler Maund)

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Big step up for Extremely Lucky

Will Clarken says Extremely Lucky 'needs to find a few lengths' in Saturday's $1 million Group 1 Sportsbet Goodwood at Morphettville. But Clarken and Nikki O'Shea will saddle up the five-year-old son of Exreme Choice confident they have him in ideal shape "The prep has been perfect so far and he won The Hawkes first-up in good style," said Clarken. "It is a much-stronger race obviously on Saturday and we are aware he needs to find a few lengths. "He was looking for a bus late in The Hawkes though and we are confident he has derived plenty of benefit from that run. "We gave him a searching gallop at Murray Bridge on Monday with Jake (Toeroek) in the saddle and we are fortunate to have his services on Saturday." Clarken and O'Shea are set to saddle runners in three other black-type races on Saturday. "Second To Nun goes to The Cummings and her work on Monday was honestly the best she has ever worked," he said. "I know she has had a long campaign, but she continues to hold her form and her action has never been better. "Boognish will go to the Proud Miss and back to mares grade and gets Jamie (Kah), who won on her three starts ago on Adelaide Cup Day. "Jamie will also jump aboard Silent Surrente in the Centaurea Stakes and her two runs this prep have been stellar. "She is right at the top of her game this mare and going to 2000 metres is also a plus."Story from Racing.com

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Lucky in line for Goodwood honours

Training partners Will Clarken and Niki O’Shea will chase a hometown first when they saddle Extremely Lucky in The Goodwood at Morphettville. After starting his career in Adelaide, Extremely Lucky will be having his second run back for Clarken and O’Shea in Saturday’s Group 1 sprint over 1200m after a stint in Sydney with Chris Waller. Extremely Lucky won on debut for Clarken at Murray Bridge in December 2021, later on collecting the Listed Lightning Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville the following July and two starts later lined-up at Group 1 level. After finishing last in that contest behind Coolangatta at Moonee Valley, Extremely Lucky was transferred into the care of Waller, but went winless in six starts, and was returned to South Australia to continue his career. Clarken was emotional after Extremely Lucky scored a first-up win in the Group 3 John Hawkes Stakes (1100m) at Morphettville on April 27. “He loved the horse always and when he got taken away from him, it was hard to swallow, so to get him back, and to get him back going well, it’s great,” O’Shea said. “That was a good race and the race itself means a lot.” O’Shea has been the co-trainer with Clarken for roughly 18 months and said Extremely Lucky was the best galloper in the stable. “He’s the most quality horse that we’ve had, I think,” O’Shea said. “He doesn’t have the best feet on him, so getting to the beach is good for him, but he has the potential to win something like this race one day.” O’Shea said it was not ideal to be heading into a race like The Goodwood with just the one run back following a break. The stable wanted to see how the sprinter came through his first-up run before a final decision was made on whether he starts. “Will’s happy with him and the extra 100 metres won’t be a problem for him, but it’s going to be a different kettle of fish, a hard race,” O’Shea said. “Ideally you wouldn’t be going into it second-up off a fresh-up run, but it’s hard not to have a go at it when it’s on your doorstep. “He’s a quality horse and he beat some of the horses that will be in the market, so I suppose you have to have some hope for him.”Story from Just Horse Racing

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Extremely Lucky claims inaugural running of John Hawkes Stakes

Extremely Lucky ($7.50) has broken through for his first win in nearly two years, as the five-year-old gelding recorded a nice victory on her return for the Will Clarken & Niki O’Shea stable in the inaugural running of the John Hawkes Stakes at Morphettville. After spending 12 months with Chris Waller in Sydney, the son of Extreme Choice returned to the South Australian trainers to take his place in the Adelaide Racing Carnival over the next few weeks, and the change of scenery has paid dividends instantly. Master Eight ($71.00) made sure the race was run at a breakneck tempo as he took off mid-race to lead by three lengths over Celsius Star ($21.00) and Sghirripa ($6.00) who settled behind the leader, and by the time they hit the top of the straight, those two took over to lead the field with 400m to go. However, it was easy to see that the swoopers were going to run over the top of them in the concluding stages as they launched down the outside with their runs. In a tight photo finish, Extremely Lucky just held on from a fast-finishing Sans Doute ($4.80), with What You Need ($4.60) and Grey River ($9.00) finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.Will Clarken was clearly emotional after the win of Extremely Lucky during his post-race interview. “He’s a horse that we spruiked and and our stable really believes in data and he’s the benchmark, the best horse we’ve trained in that sort of stuff, but has never got there,” Clarken said. “Whether he will is yet to come. This was a Listed race and it was the right circumstances. “There was good speed. Jamie rode him and I’ve been a believer that when you’re working with a horse and things aren’t going right, it’s very hard to correct at the time. “I got a bit of time when he went to Waller’s just to think about things that I would do differently. I corrected every mistake I made and I’m able to train the horse a lot better now. “He might have lost a bit of time there in his life for a life, but he’s back now well and we’ll give him a bit of time to see how he comes out of that. “Group 1 horses win Group 1’s. What he can do is quite astonishing and they have to do it race day. “We’re a long way from that, but he ticks a lot of boxes that a lot of horses can’t do. “It’s great to haves the Hawkes’ on course today. They’re a famous South Australian racing family and it’s great to see them back here.” Jamie Kah was also very happy with the win post-race. “It’s good to see him back. He was a very, very smart horse, but so much went wrong with him,” Kah said. “He was feeling the pinch near the line, but it was deserved. “At the 400 metres I thought he was really smoking and I thought he’d easily win. “He got to the 100 metres and had nearly had enough. Will told me he’d only had the one trial, but it’s good to win on him.”

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