Happy Clapper (Aus) (Teofilo {Ire}) was shaping up as a middle-distance standout last season with two wins and three placings from six starts, and the seasoned gelding got his autumn off to a perfect start on Saturday with a first-up win in the G1 Canterbury S. Breaking prominently on the rail, Happy Clapper was content to slip back under Blake Shinn and sit about five lengths off the pace set by Global Glamour (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) from Showtime (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}). Happy Clapper was completely blocked turning for home, but a seam soon materialized approaching the 300. The bay drove down the middle of the track largely under a hand ride and collared Global Glamour inside the final half-furlong to win by 1 1/4 lengths.
“He was primed,” said Shinn. “He had two nice trials, he goes well fresh. From barrier one I was just hoping the cards would fall my way. I had to sort of extricate my way out of there on the turn. Fortunately he's a big horse and I had a lap full under me, and once he got that clear daylight he really rounded the race off strongly. It was a great effort and sets him up nicely.”
“He's seven years old now but he has been sparingly raced and treated with kid gloves his whole career so there is no reason why he couldn't reach the best form of his career,” Shinn added. “He gave Winx a good run for her money last prep so I think we meet her in the Ryder and it's going to be a good rematch again.”
Signaling his rise to the top echelons with a second in last April's G1 Doncaster H. and The Championships followed by a fifth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. behind Winx the following weekend, Happy Clapper, like he did on Saturday, won first up in the spring off two trials when taking the G2 Tramway S. A second to Winx in the G1 George Main S. followed, and he was able to plunder the G1 Epsom H. in the great mare's absence on Sept. 30. He finished sixth in Winx's third Cox Plate before rounding out the season with another second in the G1 Mackinnon S. at the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Pedigree Notes…
It was a very productive day for Happy Clapper's dam Busking on Saturday, as in addition to this Group 1 score her current 2-year-old, Not A Single Cent (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}), won the G2 VRC Sires' Produce S. at Flemington. The mare has also produced the multiple group-placed filly Gigs (Aus) (Commands {Aus}), and has a yearling full-brother to Not A Single Cent.
Saturday, Randwick, Australia
CANTERBURY S.-G1, A$490,000, ATC, 3-10, 3yo/up, Open Weight For Age, 1300mT, 1:14.25, Good.
1–HAPPY CLAPPER, 59.0, g, 7, by Teofilo (Ire)
1st Dam: Busking, by Encosta de Lago
2nd Dam: Winifred's Prayer, by Tierce
3rd Dam: Vale Nymph, by Avon Valley (GB)
O/B-M W Thomas; T-P J Webster; J-B Shinn; A$292,000.
Lifetime Record: 32-10-8-3, A$3,875,800. *1/2 to Not A Single
Cent (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}), GSW-Aus, A$123,050;
and Gig (Aus) (Commands {Aus}), MGSP-Aus, A$374,265. Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating:
A+.
2–Global Glamour, 57.0, m, 4, Star Witness–Spectacula, by
Testa Rossa. (A$65,000 Ylg 2015 MM Gold Coast Yearling Sale)
O-It's All About The Girls No 1 (Mgr: Mrs E Lawlor) & It's All
About The Girls No 2 (Mgr: Mrs E Lawlor); B-Lauriston
Thoroughbred Farm VIC; T-G Waterhouse & A Bott; J-Tim
Clark; A$94,000.
3–Invincible Gem, 57.0, m, 4, I Am Invincible–Diamond Day, by
Marwina. O-C A Hill & P R Tonkin; B-Mr TC Hill NSW; T-K A
Lees; J-C W Brown; A$49,500.
Margins: 1.3 len, 2.8 len, 3.6 len. Odds: 3.60, 4.50, 6.50.
Also Ran: Endless Drama (IRE), Tulip, Clearly Innocent, Showtime, Foxplay, Derryn. Click for the Racing Post result. Click for the free Arion.co.nz catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
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