Good Banter too tough in Adrian Knox

[Wandering Eyes]

With a hard-fought victory in Saturday’s Gr.3 TAB Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Randwick, Good Banter (NZ) (Tavistock) completed a trans-Tasman feature double for three-year-old progeny of former Cambridge Stud stallion Tavistock.

Good Banter became Tavistock’s 50^th individual stakes winner – a tally that had reached 48 less than two hours earlier when Outovstock (NZ) won the Gr.3 Higgins Concrete Manawatu Classic (2100m) at Trentham. In between times, six-year-old mare Apostrophe (NZ) became the 49^th black-type winner for Tavistock with her victory in the Gr.3 Martin Collins New Zealand Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2100m).

The heavy track at Randwick on Saturday led to a surge in support for Good Banter, whose maiden win came in similar conditions at Kembla Grange last year. Good Banter shortened into $4.50 favouritism by the time the gates opened, and she produced a performance worthy of that status.

Jockey Jamie Kah positioned Good Banter in midfield, keeping a close watch on second favourite Autumn Angel (The Autumn Sun) all the way. That pair moved to the outside at the top of the straight and made their runs side by side, bounding past the tiring front-runner Bush Girl (Ribchester).

Autumn Angel and Good Banter had it all to themselves in the final 100m, fighting out a head-bobbing battle. Good Banter had just 53kg on her back, 8kg less than Autumn Angel, and that swing in the weights proved decisive as edged ahead in the closing stages to win by half a length.

“She was super,” Kah said. “She really surprised me, actually. We had a nice enough run, then when Autumn Angel kicked I thought we were just going to run a nice second.

“Obviously the weight swing helped, but she was super and she was going away late as well.”

Good Banter has now had seven starts for two wins, earning A$173,900 in stakes for her eight owners.

The Adrian Knox Stakes is a traditional late lead-up to the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at the same venue a week later, but Good Banter’s trainer John O’Shea is unsure about following that path.

“My preference wouldn’t be to go to the Oaks,” he said. “I think she’s got a lot to offer down the road.

“I think those other two good fillies (Orchestral and Zardozi) are just a bit more seasoned than her at the moment, but it’s an option we’ll discuss with the owners. An option to run in a Group One over a mile and a half with a filly that’s had a good win shouldn’t be neglected, but we’ll just see how she pulls up and see what the owners want to do.

“If we just take our time, we might end up in Queensland for a Group One up there. We might even come back here and run in a Frank Packer Plate (Gr.3, 2000m). But we’ll discuss that with the owners. If they want to run in the Oaks, she’s a filly in good form and we’d give her that opportunity.”

Good Banter was bred by Blandford Lodge’s Helen-Gaye and Graham Bax and is out of the Savabeel mare Danza Kuduro (NZ). Herself a three-time winner on the racetrack, Danza Kuduro is a half-sister to the dual Group One winner Danzdanzdance (Mastercraftsman) and the Listed winner Le Gai Soleil (NZ) (Tavistock).

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