Racing: St Reims carries weight handsomely

Leith Innes spent the entire Hastings home straight talking to himself aboard St Reims on Saturday.

"Where is she, she must be coming soon," he was saying.

And Haylee Baylee was the horse he was talking about.

Haylee Baylee was the only horse Innes was worried about and the mare was nowhere in Innes' vision for most of the home straight.

Unfortunately in a five-horse field she got caught three-deep on the rail and had to wait for horses to clear in front before heading out after St Reims and his 60kg.

Haylee Baylee made up enormous ground, but was still a short neck back when the winning post came back.

Just on the video you might say Haylee Baylee was unlucky, but getting to St Reims is one thing, getting past is another.

"He knows where the winning post is," said St Reims' regular partner Leith Innes.

"He waits until he hears the opposition coming then takes off."

That was clear in the closing 90m on Saturday.

Very few horses win 11 races and even fewer these days are asked to carry 60kg.

St Reims is heading to the $1 million Kelt Capital, but on the way he will attempt to lump something like 61.5kg to win the identical race to Saturday's on the middle day of the Hastings carnival.

"He'll carry 61.5kg and he'll win again," said syndicate managing owner Rob McAnulty.

After only one race in his current campaign, St Reims might have been thought to be still one run away with 60kg.

"I thought he might be vulnerable, but when we got down here last night I took his rug off and I thought he'd tightened up quite nicely with the trip," said St Reims trainer Chris McNab.

McNab is delighted that the horse is on track for the Kelt.

"I think he's come up better this time than last year.

"Last year we had to race him through the winter to keep him from getting away from us in condition."

Leith Innes loves St Reims and says he will ride him in the Kelt even if stablemate Shinzig lines up.

McNab was excited about the third place of Shinzig in the Mudgway.

"All I want now is a dry track for him for the Stoney Bridge."

* Cambridge trainer Neville Couchman has only eight horses in work and has never been more excited about his immediate future.

Class sprinting mare Gee I Jane is the centre of that focus.

She is heading to the rich sprints at the Melbourne spring carnival at the end of September, probably without racing here, but meantime Couchman has plenty of firepower with Gold Memba.

The vastly improved gelding completed a winning treble at Hastings on Saturday with clearly more to come.

"It's taken this horse a while to come solid, but his mother Chatty Hawk was the same. I think she won 10 races.

"She was pretty tough and so is he."