Shoot Out back to Group 1 glory in Chipping Norton

AJC Derby winner Shoot Out bounced back to Group 1 glory with an emphatic win in the Group 1 $350,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm today.

Shoot Out hasn’t been in the winner’s stall since August of 2010 when taking out the Group 2 Liston Stakes at Caulfield but hasn’t won a Group 1 since taking out the 2010 AJC Derby at Randwick.

The five year old was transferred to Chris Waller from Queenslander trainer John Wallace at the start of this campaign and was having his third start for Sydney’s premier trainer.

Waller was able to quinella the Chipping Norton today with last year’s winner Danleigh running home solidly for second and the John Thompson trained Trusting sneaking up along the fence for Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira.

An emotional Waller was glad to see Shoot Out return to the winner’s list and was thankful to the Huddy family for giving him the horse to train.

“I’m just the one lucky enough to take the credit for today, thanks to the owners for giving him to me to train and it’s a privilege to be training a Derby winner and getting him back to Group 1 form,” Waller said.

“It was very satisfying to see him back to form. I’ll just keep him ticking along and Danleigh showed that there’s still a win or two left in him and Rangi was great, he should have run in the first three, he was very unlucky.”

Winning jockey Hugh Bowman who combined with Waller last year to win with Danleigh, made it back to Chipping Nortons with a superb ride.

Bowman had Shoot Out travelling like a winner along way from home and when he let him go down the middle of the track, he had it all parcelled up at the 250m.

“He was dominate, but I must admit I had mixed minds how he would go today. I Felt he could have done a bit more his last two runs but his effort s have been good and its just lovely to be back in the winner’s stall in a Group1,” Bowman said.

“I must admit that at the 1000m mark he was just going to sleep on me, and in Group 1 races you don’t want them going to sleep, you want to be on the bridle waiting for your command. This guy is an unique animal, he’s a top class horse, he has shown that.”

Shoot Out was sent out the second favourite at $5 behind Pinker Pinker ($2.40 fav) who was most disappointing.

The 2011 Cox Plate winner was never a winning chance and when put under pressure in the straight from Blake Shinn failed to response.

 

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.