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  • Titans owner praises Des Hasler for transforming team

    Gold Coast Titans co-owner Darryl Kelly explains why he went hard for Des Hasler as head coach and why he has been a game-changer for the entire organisation.

    Gold Coast Titans co-owner Darryl Kelly went out on a limb when he chased Des Hasler as head coach, but he says it has already lifted the entire organisation ahead of a pivotal NRL season

    For more than a decade, Kelly has invested millions of dollars of his own funds and plenty of hard work besides to turn the Titans into a premiership force.

    The club has not won a finals match since 2010.

    The recruitment of Hasler on a three-year deal from 2024, which followed the sacking of former coach Justin Holbrook last season, was a bold move no-one in the game saw coming.

    From the outside, it appeared brutal but Kelly said the Titans had to make changes after failing to make a genuine impact on the NRL since their introduction in 2007.

    This season is the first time in Titans history they have had a premiership-winning coach. Hasler won titles at Manly in 2008 and 2011 and has been one of the NRL’s leading mentors for 20 years.

    Apart from veteran No.6 Kieran Foran, many of the key Titans players are young.

    Inspirational skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is 24. Gun centre AJ Brimson is 25. Queensland second-rower David Fifita is 24 and the list goes on. Kelly said they were now ready for the Hasler polish.

    “The option was to stay where we were and keep doing what we were doing … or go hard,” Kelly told AAP.

    “We made a conscious decision that we needed to move to a more proven coach in Des to see what we could do.

    “Especially with the young age demographic of the squad we’ve got. The next couple of years will determine how far this squad goes, so it was important to have an experienced coach we believe can get the best out of them.”

    Titans players have waxed lyrical about how Hasler has lifted intensity at training already, but Kelly said his influence went beyond that.

    “I have been impressed with Des with his work commitment and the level of expectation he brings to the whole organisation. It has already lifted us all to a higher level than ever before,” Kelly said.

    “If work produces results, and I believe it does, then it will produce results this year.

    “All of his coaching staff and support staff are working at a completely different level than ever before, and I have been at it for just over 10 years now.”

    The Titans kick off their season on Saturday at home against St George Illawarra.

    Not many pundits have the Titans in the top eight but that doesn’t worry Kelly. That will just feed into the siege mentality that Hasler and his teams tend to thrive on.

    “We want to be the dark horse and one of the unexpected surprises the opposition get when they walk on the paddock,” Kelly said.

  • Matildas star Kerr didn’t tell FA of harassment charge

    Matildas captain Sam Kerr didn’t tell Football Australia of her racial harassment charge, or her court appearance, says FA chief James Johnson.

    Matildas captain Sam Kerr kept her racial harassment charge and court appearance secret from Football Australia.

    Kerr, Australia’s highest-profile sportswoman, has faced a court in London charged with racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.

    She entered a not guilty plea and will likely face another court hearing in February.

    The Chelsea star is charged with using insulting, threatening or abusive words that caused alarm or distress to PC Lovell during an incident in Twickenham on January 30 last year.

    Kerr was charged on January 21 this year, but didn’t inform Football Australia (FA), chief executive James Johnson says.

    “I woke up this morning like everyone else did to the news,” Johnson told reporters in Adelaide.

    “And that is when Football Australia found out about this unsettling event.

    “We are trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment.

    “We have got our own questions that we’d like to know (answers to), we have got to find out what actually happened.

    “But we also want to say that there is a process that is under way in the United Kingdom and that process needs to run its course.”

    Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson was also blindsided by Kerr’s court appearance.

    “First time I ever heard about it was this morning,” Gustavsson told reporters in Sydney.

    “I was informed this morning and obviously was surprised … I can make it very clear that today was the very first time I ever heard about it.”

    Kerr appeared at Kingston Crown Court via video-link and spoke only to confirm her identity and to enter a not guilty plea, the Daily Mail reported.

    Harassment convictions in the UK can include a sentence of up to two years in custody when the offence is racially or religiously aggravated.

    The UK’s Metropolitan Police confirmed: “Samantha Kerr, 30 (10.09.93) of Richmond was charged via postal charge requisition on 21 January with a racially aggravated offence under Section 4A Public Order Act 1986.

    “The charge relates to an incident involving a police officer who was responding to a complaint involving a taxi fare on 30 January 2023 in Twickenham.”

    In court, Judge Judith Elaine Coello was reported to have said to Kerr’s barrister, Grace Forbes: “I understand that the defence is that she didn’t intend to cause alarm, harassment or distress to the officer, (her behaviour) did not amount to it and it was not racially aggravated.”

    Johnson said the allegations were “very serious”.

    “Sam has rights, natural justice rights, procedural rights, that she has got to work her way through, and we are respectful of that,” he said.

    “… We need to understand the issue a little bit better.

    “We woke up to this this morning … so we have got to establish the facts.

    “We have got to get some answers before we have a view on what should be done as a next step.”

    Kerr is currently recovering from knee reconstructive surgery, which is expected to sideline her from the Matildas’ campaign at this year’s Paris Olympics

    Johnson and Gustavsson both refused to comment on whether Kerr would lose the captaincy of the Matildas.

    “It’s too early to tell … we need to understand the situation better and until that time we can’t really say anything further,” Johnson said.

    “We need to allow the process to play out, that is important.

    “Sam has rights as an individual, she has pleaded not guilty, and I think we need to remember that and we need to respect that.”

  • Waller weighting with Espiona

    Newmarket weights to determine whether Espiona’s next assignment.

    Chris Waller will study the weights for this Saturday’s Newmarket Handicap before deciding whether Espiona runs in the $1.5 million event at Flemington or returns to Sydney.

    The daughter of Extreme Choice caught the eye late when steaming home into third placing in the 1000-metre Black Caviar Lightning, won by Imperatriz.

    The star Kiwi mare was late last week confirmed as a Newmarket starter, where she is expected to be 58kg topweight, and Waller said how Espiona measures up against her and some of the other better-performed nominations will determine whether she takes her place in the 1200m race.

    “I just want to see not what weight she gets, but how she fares in the weights against the other horses,” Waller said.

    Private Eye, Bella Nipotina, Magic Time and Skew Wiff are the other Group 1 winners entered for the Newmarket, along with Buenos Noches, Benedetta and the lone three-year-old nomination Cylinder.

    If Waller opts against running in the Newmarket, she will most likely appear in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick.

    The five-year-old was one of 13 nominations for that $750,000 event, which will herald the return of The Everest winner Think About It, and Waller would not have too much issue seeing her jump from the 1000m of the Lightning to 1300m second-up.

    “I don’t see 1300 metres being much of a problem, I think it is a good distance for her,” he said.

    “Her first-up run was terrific. She is effective now both ways as well as up the straight.”

    Espiona is one of two Canterbury Stakes nominations for Waller, who also has Golden Slipper winner Shinzo entered.

    The valuable son of Snitzel has not started since his third placing in the Coolmore Stud Stakes third placing and Waller tossing up whether he is ready for the 1300m first-up.

    “I’ve still got to make a decision if Shinzo is quite ready for it,” he said.

    Shinzo had had two trials this preparation, a third over 900m at Randwick on February 8 before a sixth placing in an 850m trial at Randwick a fortnight later.

  • Storm Boy dazzles again to romp home with Skyline!

    James McDonald has bestowed high praise on unbeaten colt Storm Boy saying, “he’s as good as you get”.

    Gai Waterhouse and Adrain Bott don’t just have their sights set on the Golden Slipper with Storm Boy, they are also eyeing off a clean sweep of the juvenile triple crown.

    As the raging Slipper favourite made light work of his Skyline Stakes (1200m) rivals at Randwick on Saturday, Bott was already thinking of the bigger autumn picture and the heights the $60 million colt might reach.

    He revealed that he and Waterhouse were keen to target the youngster, not just at the Golden Slipper (1200m), but at the ATC Sires’ Produce (1400m) and Champagne Stakes (1600m) as well.

    “We’ve had to prepare for the Golden Slipper, but we’ve got big targets for the triple crown as well,” Bott said.

    “I’d like to think he is only going to be better suited getting over the 1400, 1600 metres in time.

    “It’s very exciting for everyone involved.”

    Having his first start since demolishing his Magic Millions rivals, Storm Boy wasn’t the best to begin but quickly mustered speed to take up the running under new jockey James Mcdonald.

    As the pressure came on at the top of the straight, the $1.18 favourite found another gear, extending his advantage and cruising to the line 1-1/2 lengths clear of stablemate Prost ($12) with Duvana  ($18) another 1-1/4 lengths away third.

    Bott said it was a relief to see Storm Boy return so well from his Magic Millions foray and tick the final box in what will be his last start before the Golden Slipper in three weeks.

    “It’s always a little bit nerve wracking seeing these profile horses come back off that turnaround,” Bott said.

    “He’s a lovely style of horse, he’s got plenty of gears.

    “It’s his first run (back) and at 1200 metres off a while between races and a freshen up – he’s only had the one trial and he’s a lovely, big colt – so I think condition-wise, that will tighten him up nicely.”

    McDonald was having his first race day feel of Storm Boy and came away brimming with praise for the Coolmore colt.

    He believes there is still more under the bonnet and expects the youngster to thrive in a high-pressure race like the Slipper.

    “He’s as good as you get,” McDonald said.

    “He’s strong, he knows he’s really good and the more you ask him the more he keeps giving.

    “Until he gets into a high-pressure race, I think that is when you’ll see a fair dinkum horse.”

    Connections are yet to decide if McDonald will keep the Slipper ride, or if it will go to English jockey Ryan Moore, who jetted in to claim last year’s two-year-old centrepiece for Coolmore on Shinzo.

    However, McDonald made it clear he is keen to stick with the Skyline Stakes winner.

    “Ryan (Moore) is obviously their number one and we’ll see what happens, but if I get the opportunity, I’d love to ride him,” McDonald said.

    The Michael Freedman-trained Manaal took out the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m) for the fillies to remain the only non-Tulloch Lodge two-year-old to claim a black-type race in Sydney this season.

    Manaal also denied Waterhouse and Bott when capturing the Gimcrack Stakes in September and while Freedman said she would most likely press on to the Slipper, he admitted the males looked hard to beat this year.

    “She is one of the better fillies around, whether they can stack up against the colts remains to be seen,” Freedman said.

    “We thought we could come here and get the job done, we’ll have a think about the Slipper.”

    The Golden Slipper picture took further shape last week when Storm Boy had his first start since the Magic Millions carnival and while he did not elevate his peak rating, he tightened his grip on Slipper favouritism.

    While he will still be favourite after Saturday night, the Slipper market is set to be reshaped and a main danger defined this weekend with the Todman Stakes and Reisling Stakes to be run at Randwick.

  • Mr. Brightside Triumphs in Caulfield’s CF Orr Stakes: A Resilient Victory



    Mr. Brightside showcased his resilience and determination in clinching victory in the opening Group 1 event of the autumn season at Caulfield.

    The CF Orr Stakes (1400m) on Saturday unfolded as a grueling test of endurance, with the weight-for-age contest characterized by a relentless pace.

    Initially slow off the mark, Mr. Brightside swiftly made up lost ground to position himself midfield, trailing by approximately six lengths behind the front-runner, Pride Of Jenni, who set the early tempo ahead of Buffalo River.

    Despite trailing by a significant margin as the race entered its crucial stages, the Lindsay Park-trained runner, a prideful asset to the stable overseen by Ben, Will, and J D Hayes, refused to concede defeat. With Craig Williams urging him on, Mr. Brightside, the favored contender at $1.95, gradually closed the gap on Pride Of Jenni ($9), ultimately securing victory by a narrow margin of a short half-head, with Buffalo River ($61) finishing just a head behind in third place.

    J D Hayes praised Mr. Brightside as a valuable asset for the emerging trainers embarking on their professional journeys, expressing optimism for a successful autumn campaign.

    “This could mark the beginning of a promising autumn season,” Hayes remarked. “Historically, he hasn’t fared well in autumn debut races, so this victory holds special significance. He’s matured as a competitor, and we had unwavering confidence in his abilities.”

    Looking ahead, Hayes outlined Mr. Brightside’s upcoming schedule, confirming plans for appearances in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) on February 24, followed by the prestigious All-Star Mile (1600m) at Caulfield on March 16, and concluding with the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington two weeks later.

    “All signs point in that direction, and we remain hopeful that he’ll continue to deliver stellar performances,” Hayes added.

    Reflecting on the challenging journey to the finish line, Williams emphasized the demanding nature of guiding Mr. Brightside to victory.

    “He’s typically a spirited character, full of energy, which can sometimes pose a challenge,” Williams explained. “Today, he exhibited some of that cheekiness at the start, which required careful handling.”

    Williams praised Mr. Brightside’s adaptability during the race, highlighting his ability to respond under pressure and exhibit a relentless drive to succeed.

    “Despite facing formidable tactics from our competitors, Mr. Brightside’s resilience shone through,” Williams remarked. “He possesses an unwavering determination, and I’m eager to commend him for his outstanding performance.”

  • SUPER BOWL LVIII


    The stage is set for Super Bowl LVIII, where the San Francisco 49ers will face off against the reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, in a highly anticipated rematch of Super Bowl LIV. Scheduled for Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET (10:30am Monday morning AEDT), this showdown promises to be a clash of football titans, with both teams eyeing the coveted championship title.

    A Brief History:
    For the Chiefs, this marks their fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last five years, showcasing their dominance in the league. Meanwhile, the 49ers, last crowned champions after the 1994 season, have emerged as formidable contenders, securing the NFC’s No. 1 seed this season.

    Team Previews:
    Led by head coach Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers have dominated this season, boasting a point differential of plus-193, the third-best in the NFL. Quarterback Brock Purdy has emerged as a key player, showcasing his ability to lead game-winning drives under pressure.

    On the other side, the Chiefs, coached by the legendary Andy Reid, have relied on their stout defense, ranking second in points allowed during the regular season. Despite a slightly rocky road to the playoffs, quarterback Patrick Mahomes remains a force to be reckoned with, boasting an impressive playoff record and eyeing his third Super Bowl win in just seven seasons.

    Key Matchups:
    The quarterback battle between Purdy and Mahomes will undoubtedly be one to watch. Purdy, despite being the last pick in the 2022 draft, has proven himself as a formidable playmaker, particularly in attacking the middle of the field. Mahomes, with his unmatched scramble ability, poses a constant threat to opposing defenses.

    Defensively, the 49ers’ linebackers, led by Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, will play a crucial role in containing the Chiefs’ explosive offense. Meanwhile, Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has emerged as a standout performer, providing vital coverage against opposing receivers.

    X-Factors:
    For the 49ers, rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown could play a pivotal role in slowing down the Chiefs’ offense, while wide receiver Rashee Rice looks to continue his impressive postseason form for Kansas City.

    Prediction:
    As experts weigh in, the majority favor the Chiefs, citing their strong defensive performance and Mahomes’ playoff pedigree. However, the 49ers are not to be underestimated, with their balanced offense and tenacious defense.

    In the end, it’s anyone’s game, but expect a closely contested battle with the potential for last-minute heroics. Whether the Chiefs secure their place among the league’s dynasties or the 49ers stage a dramatic upset, one thing is certain—the Super Bowl LVIII promises to be a spectacle for the ages.



    Odds (10/02/2024)

    Head to Head Betting
    Kansas City chiefs -2.01
    San Francisco 49ers – 1.80

    Line Betting

    Kansas City Chiefs (+2) – 1.83

    San Francisco 49ers (-2) – 1.98



    See the rest of our special Super bowl markets here – https://www.colossalbet.com.au/sport/all/gridiron/nfl%20-%20super%20bowl%20lviii/22151953


  • World Cup puts Cummins’ team among Australia’s greatest

    Australia’s World Cup win in India has ensured Pat Cummins’ team a place in the conversation about the nation’s greatest men’s cricket sides.

    Pat Cummins’ team have put themselves in the pantheon of great Australian cricket sides after a legacy-defining year yielded a second world title.

    The ODI World Cup final win over India on Monday (AEDT) was Australia’s biggest 2023 triumph, five months after their Test Championship success against the same side.

    Comparisons have long been made between the current Australian team and the golden era of the early 2000s, who dominated the sport for a decade.

    But Cummins’ side have proven they belong in the conversation with the best men’s teams, including Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting’s sides, the Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh era and Don Bradman’s Invincibles.

    The core group have now won two ODI World Cups, with Sunday’s victory featuring seven players from the 2015 success at home.

    They also won the 2021 Twenty20 World Cup, defying the odds to take Australia’s first trophy in the format.

    In Test cricket the same group have retained the Ashes twice in England, marginally missing out on series wins in that country but having still held the urn for six years.

    A Test series victory in India remains the one blemish on their record, after a few hours of madness in Delhi cost them earlier this year.

    “I couldn’t be prouder of the team for the last few years,” Cummins said.

    “We’ve had some tough series but we’ve won some amazing series as well.

    “Everyone stood up, we feel like we’ve got a great red-ball team and the white-ball team has won two trophies in the last few years.

    “Things are looking pretty rosy.”

    Cummins considers this World Cup win to be the team’s finest achievement of a hectic 2023.

    Australia’s maiden World Cup triumph in India in 1987 remains the most against-the-odds, while the backs-to-the-wall effort in 1999 defined the golden generation before two more all-conquering campaigns.

    But Australia did not have it easy this year either.

    After a 0-2 start and with Sri Lanka 0-121 in the third match, Australia looked at serious risk of failing to make the World Cup semi-finals.

    But from the moment David Warner took a brilliant running catch on the boundary to remove Pathum Nissanka, Australia rebounded.

    Their fielding went from sloppy early in the tournament to world’s best at the end, while Cummins delivered spell after spell of tight and nagging ODI bowling.

    It was he who got the key wicket of Virat Kohli in the final, while Mitchell Starc rebounded to life with 3-55 to have India all out for 240.

    Left without a fully-fit first-choice XI until the semi-finals, Travis Head repaid the selectors’ faith for keeping him in the squad with a fractured hand by producing a fine 137 in the chase.

    That came in the most difficult conditions for Australia on a slow Ahmedabad wicket, in front of a vast and partisan crowd of Indian fans, against the unbeaten and world No.1 ranked hosts.

    The majority of Australia’s white-ball team will likely play next June’s T20 World Cup before bowing out in the ensuing years, but it’s hard to imagine them topping this feat.

    “This is the pinnacle, no doubt,” Cummins said.

    “The World Test Championship was huge after another two-year campaign, but with the ODI World Cup it’s the rich history.

    “To come out of a place like India where you know the conditions are so different to back home.

    “It’s pretty gruelling, 11 games in six weeks.

    “The way the group stuck together and got through it. Holding the medal, that’s the pinnacle.”

  • Giddey’s Thunder score biggest NBA win in a decade

    The Oklahoma City Thunder have monstered the struggling Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, running out 43-point winners on the road.

    Josh Giddey has won bragging rights over Australian countrymen Duop Reath and Matisse Thybulle as Oklahoma City belted Portland by 43 points for their biggest win in a decade.

    One of the NBA’s most potent attacking sides, the Thunder began Monday’s (AEDT) road game with an 11-2 run and never again trailed, finishing up 134-91 winners.

    Only twice since the turn of the century have the Thunder, or predecessors the Seattle Supersonics, scored bigger victories – both were by 45 points in 2012 and 2013.

    The latest win would have equalled those 45-point margins if not for a dunk from Portland’s Moses Brown in the final 30 seconds.

    Victory came despite Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault beginning to send his starting five to the bench with five minutes to play in the third quarter. None returned after the final change.

    In total, six Thunder players scored in double figures, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way on 28.

    Australian guard Giddey had a team-high five assists to go with six points and four rebounds.

    The Thunder shot at 71.8 per cent from the field before half-time, the most accurate first-half shooting display from any side this season.

    They parlayed their precision into a 33-point half-time lead, all but sealing victory with two quarters to play.

    Had the game stopped there, it would have been their most accurate shooting game in club history, dating back to the Supersonics’ formation in 1967.

    The loss was Portland’s seventh in a row as life without Milwaukee recruit Damian Lillard continues to weigh on the Blazers.

    Australians Reath and Thybulle combined for only six points from the bench.

    Elsewhere, veteran Kevin Durant had 39 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the Phoenix Suns’ 140-137 double overtime defeat of the Utah Jazz.

    Utah’s Lauri Markkanen (38 points, 17 rebuonds) booked overtime with a lay-up that tied the game at 115 in the final 20 seconds.

    Once there, a three-pointer from Grayson Allen put the Suns in front in the final minute of the second period, before Devin Booker (26 points, eight assists) sealed victory with two free throws.

    An 11th-hour dunk from Kristaps Porzingis helped Boston survive a scare from Memphis and run out 102-100 winners on the road.

    Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum pivoted around to find a cutting Porzingis, whose two-handed dunk put the Bostonians in front.

    Memphis missed two shots that could have helped snatch the game back and had another blocked, slipping to 3-10 for the season as the Celtics pieced together a six-game winning streak.

    Toronto set a new team record for assists in a season, recording 44 in a 142-113 thrashing of Detroit.

    Scottie Barnes led the way with nine assists, helping consign the Pistons to an 11-game skid.

  • Unbeaten Wanderers have eyes set on ALM title glory

    Western Sydney are aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the A-League Men season when they host Perth Glory in round four.

    Western Sydney midfielder Josh Brillante says his side should be aiming to snare championship glory as they attempt to build on the solid foundations set over the past year.

    The Wanderers finished fourth on the A-League Men table last season in their first full campaign under coach Marko Rudan before being bundled out of the finals at the first hurdle by Sydney FC.

    Former Victory star Brillante was among the key inclusions for Western Sydney this season, and the side has made a promising start.

    After drawing 0-0 with Wellington in round one, the Wanderers crushed Western United 5-0, before fighting back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw away from home against Newcastle.

    Rudan’s side will be aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the season when they host Perth at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night.

    When asked what a minimum benchmark should be for the Wanderers this campaign, Brillante didn’t mince his words.

    “I think the benchmark is set at being the champions,” he said.

    “We’ve put in a great pre-season so far and we’ve started off the season really well.

    “We’re looking to keep progressing every week and getting results.

    “So far we’ve had a pretty good record defensively, only conceding the two (goals) last week away from home.

    “We’ve got great attacking prowess. If we can keep the goals (against) at a minimum, I think we’re going to do really well.”

    The Wanderers boast the likes of Socceroo Brandon Borrello, Nicolas Milanovic, Lachlan Brook and former Leeds United and Blackburn Rovers forward Marcus Antonsson among their attacking stocks.

    Glory coach Alen Stajcic went as far as rating the Wanderers as the best attacking side in the league.

    Perth will be unable to call on star midfielder Oliver Bozanic and Jarrod Carluccio because they are on loan from the Wanderers – with the contract stipulating they aren’t allowed to play against Western Sydney.

    Glory, who moved up to sixth with last week’s 2-0 win over Central Coast, are still without injured striker Luke Ivanovic.

    Perth will come up against a familiar face in the form of Wanderers defender Jack Clisby.

    Clisby spent the past two seasons with the Glory before returning to the Wanderers, who he played 37 times for between 2016-2018, but Western Sydney coach Rudan won’t be hitting up the 31-year-old for intel.

    “I don’t really talk to players about playing their former clubs,” Rudan said.

    “It’s not something that really interests me too much.

    “But Jack’s started every game and he’s getting to understand the way we play, which has been different to his last few clubs he says.”

  • SA horses shine at Flemington on Cup week

    Promising filly Karavas completed a successful week for South Australian horses at Flemington with her win in the Group 3 Ottawa Stakes on Thursday.

    It was the second win in three years in the feature for the Richard and Chantelle Jolly stable and capped a massive six days in the saddle for Jake Toeroek.

    The lethal combination claimed last weekend’s Listed John Letts Cup at Morphettville with Pudding, one of two winners for the leading rider on the day, Toeroek’s third win in succession in the race.

    They followed up with four winners at Morphettville on Melbourne Cup Day, the leading rider grabbing a fifth win with Sabermetric.

    That form flowed to Flemington where Karavas stamped herself as a filly with a bright future dominating down the straight to make it two wins from as many starts.

    “She’s a real athletic filly, well-muscled. She always looked like she’d go early,” Richard Jolly said.

    “She had the benefit of that run at Murray Bridge.

    “People disregard our form a bit, good on them, she started good odds,” he said.

    Jolly said unlike their previous Ottawa winner See You In Heaven, Karavas was a filly who would be best suited over the short course.

    “This girl is more precocious,” Jolly said.

    “I feel this filly is going to be a sheer sprinting type.

    “We can put her away now and aim at some nice races in the autumn,” he said.

    Karavas’ win followed on from a big Melbourne Cup Day where Travis Doudle claimed the Schweppervescence Plate over 1000m with Damien Oliver riding, while Dan Clarken and Oopy MacGillivray’s The Map scored an impressive win in the 2800m race with Jamie Kah in the saddle.

    “By far and away the biggest thrill of my training career,” MacGillivray said.

    “The Map is a very special to us,” she said.

    Jamie Kah said it was a thrill to reunite with a stable who had been so crucial in her career in the early days.

    “Riding a winner on Melbourne Cup Day is awesome, but (winning) for them it felt like winning a Melbourne Cup,” Kah said.

    “I was always excited to ride this horse.

    “The feel she gave was fantastic,” she said.

    The hot SA form didn’t stop there with the Michael Hickmott trained, Fancify, finishing 2nd in the Three-Years-Old and Four-Years-Old, Fillies and Mares Race on Oaks Day while Kristi Evans trained, Platinum Wolf, ran a great race to finish 3rd in the Greys race on Cup day.