A look at some of the other angles from the Randwick Guineas meeting.
Tulloch or Guineas options for Pocketing
Three-year-old Pocketing could have earned himself a crack at an upcoming feature race against his own age after a hard-fought victory in Saturday's Midway Handicap (1600m) against older horses.
Jockey Tim Clark said the Richard and Will Freedman-trained Pocketing raced keenly throughout with blinkers on for the first time and labelled it a brave performance from the gelding to keep fighting in the straight, narrowly defeating Rush Attack, Promitto and Bernen Win in a tight finish.
"He gave me a torrid ride going to the gates, in the run and then coming back," Clark said.
"It wasn't easy work but it was worth it."
Will Freedman said the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill in three weeks or the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) a week earlier loomed as attractive options for the Yulong-owned gelding, who took his overall record to three wins and four placings from eight career starts.
"He's still got a lot to learn and a lot of furnishing to come," Freedman said.
"We might have a throw at the stumps and put him in a decent three-year-old race. Maybe something like the Tulloch or even the Rosehill Guineas.
"He's probably got one more run in him this preparation and then hopefully having that High Chaparral mare line coming through, we might see a better four-year-old."
Berry back in business with Fireball win
Tommy Berry has notched his first Saturday city win since returning from a fractured vertebrae with a slick ride aboard the Michael Freedman-trained Enriched in the Listed Fireball Quality (1100m).
Stalking the leader, Berry sooled Enriched ($6.50) through an inside run and he sprinted quickly to defeat Flying For Fun ($7.50) by three-quarters of a length with another 1-1/4 lengths to Zeitung ($3.50).
A superbly bred son of I Am Invincible out of a half-sister to Winx, Enriched was Group 2 placed in the spring and regarded highly enough by Freedman to contest the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m).
While he jarred up on the firm track at Flemington, Freedman hoped Enriched could now go on with the job, naming the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) during the Randwick carnival as a logical target.
"Off the back of that, you'd have to keep that in mind,"' Fredman said.
"He is a very well bred colt, a son of I Am Invincible and related to Winx so he's certainly got the pedigree there.
"We'll see how he pulls up. Maybe a Darby Munro (Stakes) at Rosehill in a couple of weeks (first), but I think the Arrowfield is a realistic goal."
The victory was Berry's first in Saturday metropolitan grade since returning to the saddle on February 28, five weeks after fracturing a vertebrae and injuring ligaments in his shoulder when he was dislodged from Step Aside in a race at Randwick.
King back on winner's list in Sydney
Globetrotting jockey Rachel King hasn't taken long to get back into the winner's list in Sydney with an all-the-way victory in the Group 3 Aspiration Quality aboard Little Baia.
King was competing at her first Saturday meeting in Sydney for 2025 after a successful riding stint in Japan, which included a Grade 1 win, and Little Baia scored in the jockey's first ride of the day on Saturday's program.
Sent out a $9.50 chance off the back of two straight wins at Canterbury, Little Baia pressed forward early to lead under King and they were never headed from there.
King said she had been keen to get back and continue her association with the in-form Bjorn Baker stable and was pleased to get a winner in her first week back in Sydney.
Little Baia recorded her first stakes victory and King said it was a tough effort.
"She did her thing, she got out there in front," King said.
"I thought she got a nice first half of the race and with 53 kilos on her back, we took full advantage and probably put them to the sword a little bit early, but I knew she's a very fit horse and she's very tough.
"Her confidence has really grown but she's bigger and stronger as well this preparation. I galloped her on Tuesday and noticed a big difference, having been away, how much bigger and stronger she is. And she's putting that on the racetrack."
Little Baia defeated Mare Of Mt Buller ($3.40) by a half- length with another long head to $3 favourite It's A Knockout in third.
Widdup's stable star en route to Galaxy
By noted staying sire Savabeel out of an O'Reilly mare, Jedibeel was bought in the hope he'd develop into a handy miler.
When he struggled to run out a strong 1200-metres early in his career, trainer Brad Widdup became concerned enough to send him for genetic testing.
The results were surprising - they identified him as a sprinter.
"It's not something I do all the time but I started working him short again and the rest is history," Widdup said.
Jedibeel has now won eight of his 18 starts over sprint trips, claiming his most significant victory in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Randwick on Saturday when he recorded a scintillating 55.97 seconds for the 1000 metres.
The Hawkesbury-based Widdup will now raise the bar even higher with the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill in a fortnight the goal.
"He has been a great horse for us. I got him when I needed a horse like this," Widdup said.
"We aimed at the Razor Sharp last time in and gave him a short break to get him back for these sort of races. I was 'umming and ahhing' to run him next week, but if I did that I'd miss out on The Galaxy. I threw the cards on the table and rolled the dice today.
"Tyler (Schiler) has always been a big believer that the Galaxy is a race we should be aiming at. He's got a massive turn of foot, especially ridden like that when he can get out late and he finishes good."
Jedibeel ($10) emerged from the pack late and finished strongly to deny the fast-finishing Kimochi ($4.20) by 1-1/4 lengths with I Am Me ($2.60 fav) another long head away.
Alalcance on Sydney Cup path
Alalcance has kicked off her Sydney Cup campaign on a winning note with a tough on-pace performance in the Listed Randwick City Stakes.
Resuming over 2000m on Saturday for her first start since finishing second in the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) in mid-December, Alalcance gave the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable a feature race-to-race double after Royal Patronage had taken out the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes.
Alalcance ($2.80 fav) took up the running with Almania on her outside early, before taking over on her own under Tim Clark and holding off her rivals in the straight to defeat fast-finishing Warmonger ($26) by half a length.
Zechariah ($14) was another short half-head away third.
"We pulled up stumps (after the Christmas Cup) because we thought she was a real Sydney Cup style of horse," Bott said.
"She's a real out-and-out stayer. We feel we haven't seen the best of her yet. She's lightly raced and we wanted to give her that chance to have a break and be able to sustain a proper preparation that gave her the right grounding to get to a Sydney Cup."
He said Alalcance would likely run in the Manion Cup next on her path towards the G1 Sydney Cup (3200m), and the co-trainer was proud of the imported mare's effort to win first-up.
"It's not easy to run that style of race on any occasion, let alone first-up," he said.
"Tim had to do a bit of work to hold that position from an inside draw and received a bit of pressure early, but to her credit she kept up a nice gallop.
"Tim increased the pressure early and I thought she might have been vulnerable the last furlong but to her credit she dug deep and started to pull away."
Clark brought up a treble on the mare after earlier victories aboard Pocketing and Royal Patronage.
Quote of the Day: "She is never the easiest horse to ride. If 10 things could have gone wrong in that race, then 11 did. A line through that one." – Jockey Zac Lloyd on the unplaced return of Stefi Magnetica in the Canterbury Stakes.
