Furnaces Takes Out 2015 Kindergarten Stakes

Talented Godolphin colt Furnaces produced a professional performance to return to winning form in the 2015 Kindergarten Stakes at Royal Randwick this afternoon.

Furnaces was too strong for his rivals in the 2015 Kindergarten Stakes at Royal Randwick this afternoon. Photo by: Steve Hart

Furnaces was too strong for his rivals in the 2015 Kindergarten Stakes at Royal Randwick this afternoon. Photo by: Steve Hart

Furnaces was well-backed in the lead-up to the Kindergarten Stakes and he was settled in a lovely position by jockey James McDonald in the early stages of the race, while debut winner Redzel took up the running.

Redzel took up the running when asked for an extra effort by jockey Hugh Bowman and Regatta Rebel challenged strongly, but Furnaces proved too strong for his rivals in the final stages and recorded the second race win of his career.

McDonald rode five winners at Rosehill Gardens last Saturday on The BMW Day and the in-form hoop said that the fitness levels of Furnaces are what got him home on the very heavy track in the Kindergarten Stakes.

“You put me on a fast one and I will point in the right director and hopefully it will run past the post in first place,” McDonald said.

“He is a fit horse, he has been up a while for a Golden Slipper candidate, so today on a heavy track he was going to be hard to beat.

“It is fairly testing and the horse definitely felt tired in the last 100, but the ATC have done a good job and we are here on a Monday which is a good thing.”

Furnaces stamped himself as a Golden Slipper contender when he took out the Primo Moraitis Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on debut on October 25 and he performed well without winning in the Listed Lonhro Plate (1100m) at Royal Randwick on February 14, the Group 2 Todman Stakes (1200m) at the same venue on March 7 and the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 21.

Trainer John O’Shea said that he has been happy with the autumn campaign of Furnaces and he believes that the Exceed And Excel colt was deserving of a maiden win at Group level in the Kindergarten Stakes.

“He has been very consistent all season, he raced very well against the top level and he got the job done today,” O’Shea said.

“That will be it for him and I think that he has earnt himself a nice break.

“It was what we have come to expect from James and it was a great team effort.”

Team Hawkes-trained Sooboog was a massive drifter on course in the lead-up to the Kindergarten Stakes and he never handled the heavy going, to finish at the tail of the field.

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.