“I think he has strengthened a touch and might have even improved since the Derby back home, he seems very well.”
Attempting the Derby double was always going to require some real horsemanship from the Clotworthys as Willydoit went to Ellerslie on March 8 on a knife edge.
Clotworthy admits the couple had struggled to keep condition on their stable star, which may in part have contributed to his shock 10th in the Avondale Guineas before his Derby domination on Champions Day.
But with four weeks between the two classics they have been able to let Willydoit down before slowly building him up again.
“The break did him some good, he had a week in the pool after the Derby and then we have built up in his work since.
“He has had some good gallops at home then he went to Ellerslie and worked on the course proper last Saturday morning.
“After seeing that and how he worked here [in NSW] this week I think he is exactly where he needs to be.”
Also buoying Clotworthy’s confidence is the improving Sydney weather this week, with Randwick expected to be back in the ideal mid-range by tomorrow.
Mick Dee, who rode the son of Tarzino to win the Derby at Ellerslie, is back on tomorrow and Clotworthy realises Willydoit may need to go to a new level to complete the double.
Not only does he take in the three horses who finished in the placings behind him at Ellerslie but the Maher-trained Shanwah and the Chris Waller-trained filly Aeliana.
Shanwah brings strong Victorian form to tomorrow, having won both the Alister Clark at The Valley and the Autumn Classic at Caulfield, so is a logical danger.
While few fillies win Derbys, Aeliana was only just beaten in the Rosehill Guineas behind local star Broadsiding last start which could be rated stronger form than our Derby.
But Derbys are funny things and punters know Willydoit can win a hard 2400m. They don’t know that about his opponents.
Clotworthy says it will be sad to farewell his best ever horse on Sunday when Willydoit will stay with Maher as the family flies back to New Zealand.
“But that was the deal when the Aussie owners bought into him and a deal is a deal.
“We are excited to see what he goes on to do next season.”
Willydoit won’t be the only Kiwi favourite for a Randwick Group 1 tomorrow, even if Joliestar isn’t trained here.
The outstanding sprinting mare is trained in Sydney by Waller but owned by Brendan and Jo Lindsay of Cambridge Stud.
“The track looks to be improving, which was the concern earlier in the week, and Chris sounds really happy with her,” said Lindsay.
Joliestar is favourite for the A$3million ($3.3M) T J Smith, Sydney’s second biggest sprint after the Everest, and meets former NZ galloper Jimmysstar, who has been excellent in two high grade sprints in Melbourne this autumn.
The New Zealand-bred Gringotts is favourite for the Doncaster while another New Zealand-trained horse racing on the mammoth card is Love Poem for Stephen Marsh in a Group 3 over 1200m, the last race of the day.
DERBY DOUBLE?
- Willydoit is trying to add tomorrow’s A$2million ($2.2m) ATC Derby to the New Zealand Derby he won on March 8.
- He will be having his last start for trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy as he joins the Ciaron Maher stable.
- The three horses who finished behind Willydoit in at Ellerslie, Thedoctoroflove, Golden Century and Mustang Morgan also contest tomorrow’s Group 1
- Cambridge Stud-owned mare Joliestar is favourite for tomorrow’s premier sprint the T J Smith.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
