Joe Pride and Regan Bayliss believe they can repeat the success from last year’s Villiers Stakes with Brutality as Randwick’s summer mile is run under a new name of The Ingham for the first time on Saturday.
With the new name, the prizemoney has more than doubled from $750,000 to $2 million but that poses a problem for the defending champion.
Regan Bayliss takes Brutality to the outside as he launches his winning charge in last year’s Villiers Stakes.Credit:Getty
“We thought he was going to miss out there for a while, but he snuck in, and he is going every bit as well as last year,” Bayliss said.
“I know when you look at his run he hasn’t run a placing, but every run he has been building towards a peak run on Saturday.
“This race and The Gong were his two aims and in The Gong the track played a bit strangely and he missed the start after standing there for a long time. He really flew home. It made me more confident that going to The Ingham he would be the right one to be on.”
Brutality hasn’t won another race since last year’s Villiers when he ran down Ellsberg, which has gone on to win the Epsom and the Five Diamonds this spring.
While he has not been featured in the finishes this preparation, Brutality has caught the eye, finding the line late on a number of occasions. After he stormed down the outside fence to run fifth in The Gong at Kembla Grange, Joe Pride struck to his plan to give him another run and back-up into The Ingham seven days later.
Brutality might not have rewarded punters by running in the first three, but didn’t go unnoticed under 64.5 kilos as he came from last to run fifth in the benchmark 88, running his final 600m in 33.05 seconds.
“He has been flying all preparation and that run last weekend was very similar to last year,” Pride said. “He has handled the firmer track a bit better as he gets older, and I think he will notice the 10½ kilos less lead on his back. He is going super and the prize is bigger this year.”
Brutality could start favourite for The Ingham by post time on Saturday, with $3.80 favourite Nugget hoping for two scratchings to gain a run as the second emergency.
Doomben Cup winner Huetor is the second pick in betting at $6, but is first-up since the Brisbane winter after he missed the spring because of an eye injury.
The respect for Brutality has him on the $8 line with The Gong winner Riodini and Festival Stakes winner Darjaan, both from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable.
Bayliss noted that Brutality had never won in 14 attempts on a good track, which he will face on the weekend.
“People have him down as a wet-tracker and he is certainly better on softer tracks but I don’t think the track will be an excuse on Saturday the way he is going,” Bayliss said.
