By Alan Carasso
Stretching back out to arguably his preferred 2000 metres, Sir Owen Glenn's Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}) is part of a talented David Hayes/Tom Dabernig-trained duo for Saturday's G1 Ranvet S. at Randwick.
Winner of the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at last year's The Championships over this trip, the handsome chestnut proved his mettle at 10 furlongs with a victory in the G1 Caulfield S. and runner-up effort in the G1 Cox Plate before finishing a good third when stretched to two miles in the G1 Melbourne Cup last November. Ninth to the free-wheeling A Shin Hikari (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup the following month, Criterion looked a touch rusty when last ove seven in the G1 Canterbury S. over an insufficient 1300 metres at Randwick Mar. 5. Hayes believes the 5-year-old will come on for that return effort and will appreciate the extra 3 1/2 furlongs of the Ranvet.
“His work suggests that,” Hayes told AAP. “He looks well and I think he'll run much better.”
Dibayani (Ire) (Shamardal), third in the Hong Kong Derby two years ago, has turned in a pair of very strong efforts this prepartation over distances well short of his best. The 6-year-old has had the misfortune of running into G1 Cox Plate victrix Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) in both those runs, a fourth in the G2 Apollo S. over the metric seven furlongs first-up Feb. 13 and a runner-up effort to the super mare in the G1 Chipping Norton S. over 1600 metres Feb. 27.
One spot behind Dibayani in the Chipping Norton was Hauraki (Aus) (Reset {Aus}), who filled third spot at long odds in the Apollo and missed the break in the Chipping Norton, got onto the back of Winx turning for home and finished a good third. Hauraki will look to give Godolphin a second straight Ranvet following the impressive tally from Contributer (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) 12 months back.
Mongolian Khan (Aus) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), an impressive winner of the G1 Caulfield Cup over 2400 metres last October, passed on the G1 Melbourne Cup and resumed with an 11th in the Chipping Norton, a race in which the G1 New Zealand and Australian Derby winner raced fairly handy to the pace before dropping away to finish seven lengths behind Winx. Opie Bosson jets in from New Zealand to replace Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle.
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