PAUL Perry is hoping “the sky’s the limit” when he attempts to win Tuesday’s $3m Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick. But the master Newcastle trainer will be watching from afar when Sky Lab becomes his first representative in the third running of the annual Melbourne Cup day feature in Sydney. “I’ll be at Flemington instead but without a runner here,” the internationally successful Perry, who for so many years made a real impact at the Melbourne spring carnival, said on Sunday from the south. “My wife Cassie and myself come down every year for Melbourne Cup week. “We really enjoy it. There was a fantastic crowd of over 80,000 for Derby day on Saturday.”
Ash Morgan rides Sky Lab, whom Perry has readied for a first-up tilt at the Big Dance by trialling on a number of occasions in preparation for his resumption. At his latest trial, he was a close second to stablemate Bodgie in a 940m Open heat at Newcastle on October 22.
Sky Lab is a noted first-up performer, having won on three occasions when beginning a new campaign, and won the Listed Scone Cup (1600m) first-up in May. “He became eligible for the Big Dance by winning the Scone Cup, so why not have a crack at it?, Perry said. “Sky Lab is getting older (now seven years of age), but has been a wonderful performer for our stable, and an unlucky one as well. “He has been placed in races such as the Rosehill Guineas, Craven Plate and Summer Cup at Randwick, and Cameron Handicap at home.“It won’t be an easy task on Tuesday in such a big field because his racing pattern is to get back, but Ash (Morgan) has been riding him in trials and I’m sure he will be competitive.” Perry secured Sky Lab, a son of Japanese stallion Real Impact, for $48,000 at Book 2 of the 2019 Magic Millions yearling sale at the Gold Coast. The gelding has won six races and been placed eight times, and earned just over $1.4m. “I liked him when I first saw him at Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley before the Magic Millions sale,” Perry said. “He probably would have bought more money had he been in the main catalogue that year.”
Newcastle’s Kris Lees won the inaugural running of the Big Dance with Rustic Steel in 2022, and Wyong’s Sara Ryan followed up last year by scoring with Attractable. Perry won his eighth race of the new season when another bargain buy Zoe Shark scored at Newcastle on Saturday. Ridden by Scone apprentice Mitch Stapleford (who later was suspended on a careless riding charge), Zoe Shark ($4) outsped her rivals in the Midway Benchmark 64 Handicap (900m), fending off a spirited late challenge from Hawkesbury mare Dark Glitter ($11). Zoe Shark, a five-year-old daughter of Palentino, was previously trained at Albury and won a Corowa Maiden Handicap (1300m) in March last year. She was put on the market after beating 10 rivals in an 800m Wodonga trial later that year in September, and was purchased online for only $2500 and transferred to Perry. He has now won two races with her, and she has also been placed on six occasions, four of them seconds, since joining his Newcastle team.
Wyong trainer Kristen Buchanan won her seventh race of the new season (and career 308th) when successful at Saturday’s Coffs Harbour meeting. Buchanan’s Kennedy Choice ($4.80), a seven-year-old son of Choisir, the hulking chestnut with whom Perry famously carried off the 2003 Royal Ascot sprint double, easily took the Class 2 Handicap (1315m). Kennedy Choice was ridden by apprentice Lauren Van Tijn, who posted her fifth career winner (and fourth this season).