Journalists Wandering Eyes Posted 4 hours ago Journalists Share Posted 4 hours ago Waterford and Alysha Collett returning to the mounting yard after claiming The Lakes at Wyong. Photo: Bradleyphotos The Chris Waller-trained Waterford ($9.00) has come with a withering burst to claim the inaugural running of The Lakes (1600m) at Wyong on Saturday afternoon, securing the $500,000 on offer in celebration of 150 years of racing in the region. It comes after a luckless string of outs this preparation for the son of Awtaad, with the six-year-old only having placed once across his five starts heading into Saturday’s feature. Alysha Collett produced an astute ride from stall 11 this time around after getting too far back at Randwick on Boxing Day in the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m), electing to go forward and find a handy position forward of mid-field. The well-supported favourite with horse racing bookmakers, Robusto ($2.80), was forced to take up the running as the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Redbreast ($4.80) elected to hand up in the early stages of the contest. Adam Hyeronimus managed the task nicely with the top-weight for favourite backers, seemingly ticking over some soft sectionals in the middle stages before pressing the button at the 300m pole. Robusto appeared off-and-gone, but with one final lunge, it was the former UK galloper getting the head down as Waterford claimed his six-career win at start 26. Wyong The Lakes 2025 Replay – Waterford https://horsebetting.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-Wyong-The-Lakes-Waterford-Chris-Waller-Alysha-Collett.mp4 Stable representative Chris Harward was on course to break down the victory and suggested a lack of luck from poor barriers had been costly. “This horse has been pretty luckless,” Harward said. “I mean, barriers win races, and he didn’t get a great barrier today, but he got a bit of luck and a great ride. “Alysha went out there to win a race, and I think she won the race in the first furlong or two by putting him right there. He let down like a good horse today. “Like I said, he’s been pretty luckless this prep. He’s run some nice races, but he’s had bad barriers. When he did get good barriers, he was blocked for a run. “Today, he got the luck, got a great ride, and we pulled off a big one.” Alysha Collett brought up a race-to-race double after securing victory aboard Bullets High in the previous race and couldn’t have been happier with the result. “Good to see him show a little bit of fire out of the gates today,” Collett said. “He had a little freshen-up from his 2,000-meter run the other day, and with a sticky barrier, we tried to ride with a bit of luck. We gave him a really good trot run before the barriers, and he was alert. He knew what was going on today. “I just didn’t want to let go of his head because sometimes when you do that, you can lose momentum. “But I loved the way he went to the line today. He put in, and it was great for the whole team. Thank you to the owners too. It was a fantastic ride.” Horse racing news View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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