 Danny O'Brien's good fortune from Wednesday's Sandown Lakeside meeting appears to have followed him to Moonee Valley this afternoon after debutant Star Witness won the $70,000 Tatts Group Plate (1000m) for two-year-olds. The son of Starcraft survived a contentious third against first protest where rider of the winner Nick Hall allowed his mount to shift several lengths to then bump Josimar (Danny Nikolic) another couple of lengths off their course. However initial contact occurred inside the 50m mark and stewards weren't satisfied that the interference had cost Josimar's chances of victory. Star Witness ($3-$3.70) defeated Flokkati ($4-$4.60-$3.80) by a short half head after settling just off the speed in the small six horse field. Josimar ($11-$15) finished a further half neck away in third. Jesses Girl ($7.50-$10) made up some ground from the rear of the field to finish fourth, while Dream Face ($4.60-$6.50-$6) and Johnnydrama ($3.30-$3.50 fav) whipping in the field. O'Brien conceded post-race he was a little concerned about Star Witness starting from the inside alley and paid credit to Nick Hall's winning ride. "It can be a bit awkward from barrier one over the 1000m start here, your always going to be hard on the rail and fortunately Nick (Hall) was able to extricate him and he lengthened really nicely," O'Brien said. O'Brien suggested the win was extra special given he bred the colt and that he also raced the dam Leone Chiara with some success. Leone Chiara won the Group 3 W.H Wylie Handicap at Morphettville but is more notoriously remembered by punters as the horse infamously involved in the scandal which saw jockey Craig Newitt suspended for 18 months. "This is her first foal but her full brother was Ferocity who won the Ascot Vale Stakes for us and obviously Leone Chiara was a very good horse." "It's one of the better two-year-old familles in Australia over the last 10 years and hopefully this bloke can do them credit." "He's a quality colt and we hope he's got a big future." Sold for $150,000 at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale, O'Brien will resist the temptation to tackle the $2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast in early January. Instead he will give Star Witness time to recover and he is likely to reappear at Moonee Valley for the Listed St. Albans Stakes (1000m) on December 13. Picture - Quentin Lang
© 2010 Published 28/11/09
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