Rageese to head to Sydney for The Villiers

The Darren Weir trained Ragesse will now head to Sydney for the Group 2 $250,000 Villiers Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on December 17 following an aborted trip to Perth.

Rageese, above, will head to Sydney to run in the Villiers Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Rageese, above, will head to Sydney to run in the Villiers Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Rageese had to return to Weir’s Warrnambool stables without having a run in Perth after he was a race morning scratching from the Group 1 $1m James Boag’s Premium Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot on November 19 because of a minor hoof problem.

Weir’s Warrnambool foreman Jarrod McLean has reported that Rageese has overcome the injury and will head to Sydney for a Villiers Stakes lead up run in the Group 3 $150,000 Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on December 3.

“He’ll do a reverse gallop on the course proper at Warrnambool on Saturday morning in preparation with Lucky Hussler,” McLean said.

Lucky Hussler won’t be heading to Sydney but instead will travel to the Gold Coast to try to win back to back $1m Magic Millions Cups (1400m) on January 14.

McLean is confident the stable will find a travelling companion for Rageese for the Sydney Summer Carnival but is yet to confirm who that will be.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure who it will be yet, but we’re definitely keen to send a travelling companion with him,” McLean said.

Rageese regained his Autumn Carnival winning form and earned a chance to travel to Perth for the Railway Stakes after beating Arod and Federal in the Group 3 $200,000 L’Oreal Paris Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on November 3.

During his three year old season Rageese was able to show his potential with a win in a 1300m three year old Handicap at Sandown on April 9 followed by a four and a quarter lengths victory in the Listed $100,000 H C Nitschke Stakes (1400m) at Morphettville Parks on April 30.

Rageese began his racing career with Team Hawkes and after winning his Maiden over 1350m at Wyong at the end of August in 2015, ran well when fourth to Exosphere in the Group 1 $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill.

The Street Cry colt then finished just behind the placegetters again two starts later when fifth to Press Statement in the 2015 Group 1 $1m BECK Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield.

Rageese is the winner of four races plus four placings from seventeen starts with prizemoney earnings of $559,110.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.