Vintage Cassidy outsmarts rivals in Wiggle Stakes

A vintage Jim Cassidy ride outsmarted his rivals on Steps In Time in taking out the last race at Warwick Farm today.

Cassidy was able lead as he liked on the John O’Shea trained mare and his tactics of staying well away from the fence proved to be a winning move in the Listed $100,000 Sharp Wiggle Stakes (1400m).

The top Sydney rider was keen to look for better going and decided to stay away from the inside after it was starting to get chopped up after a full days racing on the slow surface.

Cassidy turned for home eight to ten horses wide and the four year old mare revelled in the conditions to score by four and a half lengths from Foxstar ($9.50) with Lady’s Angel ($7.50) nearly six lengths away in third spot.

“She’s a good mare and she’s improved. John’s done a great a job with her, she’s gone from strength to strength. Trotting down I looked around and there was only eight runners, I hadn’t been out eight or ten deep all day so I thought I would go out and have a look,” Cassidy said.

Steps In Time’s fourth win from as many starts this campaign prompted stable foreman Bryce Heys to nominate the Group 1 $600,000 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill in a fortnight as her next run.

O’Shea decided to scratch Steps In Time from Rosehill last week to keep her for today and was rewarded with a first class performance.

“The horses are running extremely well and we had a tough day with not all the luck our way and we were happy to wait all day to get a win,” Heys said.

“She is having a great prep. Undefeated this prep and has defied the handicapper each time and she’s going to be very well placed going into the Coolmore in a fortnight.”

Steps In Time started at $3 second favourite just behind Secret Admirer ($2.90 fav) who was never in the race and struggled into fifth place.

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.