Jack’s Derby quest not over

[Wandering Eyes]

Explosive Jack’s (NZ) (Jakkalberry) groundbreaking three-year-old campaign may not be over, with connections eyeing off another Derby.

Speaking the day after the young stayer became the first horse to complete the Listed Tasmanian Derby (2200m) – Gr.1 ATC Derby (2400m) double, trainer David Eustace said his campaign could be extended into May and even June.

Eustace said that the hardy son of Jakkalberry could tackle one or both of the Gr.1 South Australian Derby (2500m) and Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m), provided he recovers well from Saturday’s Group One win at Randwick.

The stable tried a similar campaign in 2017 with Ruthven (Domesday), who won the Queensland Derby after finishing second in the South Australian Derby and fourth in the ATC Derby.

“He’s been in work for a long, long time and he’s been everywhere – he’s been to Goulburn, he’s been to Tassie and now up in Sydney,” Eustace said to Racing.com’s Raceday Live.

“He’s a bit of a sleeper as a horse, he’s taken a lot of education and I think he’s only just starting to work it out – even the improvement between the Bendigo run and the win yesterday was huge.

“He’s racing very well and there are two more Derbies to go – Adelaide is in a month and Queensland is a month after that.

“We’ll see how he comes through the run, he went to the beach this morning but he’s a very sound horse and that’s the plan at this stage.”

Trainer Matt Cumani indicated that Khoekhoe (Turffontein), who finish fifth behind Explosive Jack on Saturday, will likely tackle the Gr.3 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) at Randwick later this month en route to the South Australian Derby (2500m).

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