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Napoleonic set to be stable’s single Randwick runner

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The filly Scintillation’s connections, impressed by her pedigree, are weighing up a wide draw entry into the Lonhro Plate against opting for a milder midweek target.

Bred from superstar sire I Am Invincible and out of stakes mare Minhaaj, she has trialled effectively on two occasions in the lead-up to her race debut, potentially now shifted due to copping the outside gate 13 in Saturday’s Listed feature.

“I’m not sure if she will run yet. There are a couple of options next week we want to think about,” co-trained Tom Charlton said.

“She’s a very sharp filly. Not the biggest but very strong and her trials have been sharp so we will look for her running well whenever she does.”

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Her dam dominated her first pair of starts at two, highlighted by success in the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) on Flemington’s track, later collecting additional elite honours with John O’Shea.

Charlton, then part of his co-trainer’s team, highlighted likenesses between the filly and her parent.

“Minhaaj probably had a little bit more size, but she has thrown a very good first foal,” he said.

“There are a lot of similarities in the sense of their strength.

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“We’d obviously love to achieve some black type for connections. She is a valuable proposition. We’re still learning about her, but her trials are indicative that she could do that.”

Intent on debuting their exciting three-year-old Napoleonic in the Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m), the stable faces quality rivals but Charlton looks forward to testing him.

“Tempted is arguably the best 1200-metre three-year-old and she brings extremely good form, and Wodeton has good form and gets in very well at the weights getting two-and-a-half kilos off us,” he said.

“But we couldn’t be happier with our fellow. He is a really nice horse and I’m sure he will run very well.”

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The racing betting markets are heating up ahead of the Eskimo Prince Stakes showdown.

A field of eight has been accepted for the Eskimo Prince with Everest runner-up Tempted an odds-on favourite.

The post Napoleonic could be stable’s lone Randwick flagbearer first appeared on Just Horse Racing.

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“It’s been a long start to the year”

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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Taylor Gray won Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 and secured his second career win. The O’Reilly Series driver did so by holding off Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed. Later, during a post-race interview, Gray expressed his views on the same.

The JGR driver qualified among the top ten drivers on the grid and began the 200-lap race from P10. Meanwhile, Creed was faster than him in the qualifying session and secured a P4 start. Gray made steady progress in stages one and two, securing sixth-place and seventh-place finishes, respectively.

Following that, Taylor Gray secured the lead with a strategic move by his crew chief, Jason Ratcliff. The crew chief called Gray in the pits ahead of the dominant drivers Creed and Brandon Jones, giving him an advantage over his competitors with a set of fresh tires. As a result, the JGR driver took home his second career victory and told the media in the victory lane:

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“First of all, thank you to everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Gray in Victory Lane. “How about (crew chief) Jason Ratcliffe? That pit call was awesome. I knew we had a car capable of winning. I thought the No. 20 (Jones) was a little better than us before the green-flag cycle, but you just have to stay locked in.”

“Jason made a really good adjustment on the car, a really good pit call, and got us the clean air. I can’t thank everybody enough. It’s been a long start to the year, man. Not that we’re not bringing speed to the race track, but things just haven’t gone our way. So it’s nice to finally be able to close one out,” he added.

Taylor Gray crossed the finish line with a small margin of 0.718 seconds ahead of Sheldon Creed. Meanwhile, JRM driver Justin Allgaier secured third place, followed by Jesse Love in fourth place and Brent Crews in fifth place.


“Originally, I was supposed to be the 19”: When Taylor Gray opened up about his future with Joe Gibbs Racing in stock car racing

In October 2024, stock car racing driver Taylor Gray revealed that he was initially set to drive the #19 Toyota in his sophomore season with Joe Gibbs Racing. However, the NASCAR team announced that it would bring back the #54 Toyota for the last season and named Gray as the full-time driver.

The stock car racing team was impressed by the 21-year-old driver’s performance in the 2024 season. Following that, the team offered Gray a full-time contract for the 2025 season in the O’Reilly Series. Later, the JGR driver told the media:

“We were kind of talking about next year a little bit. And he was asking me about number stuff and what number I was supposed to be. And originally, I was supposed to be the 19. Like that was what I was going to do with the 19. And he looks at me and goes, “No,” he said, “you’re going to run the 54.” And so they, they drug the 54 kind of out of retirement. I like to say. And yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

Taylor Gray is currently ninth in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with 294 points to his credit. He moved up three spots after the Kansas Speedway win. Additionally, he has secured one top-five and four top-ten finishes in ten starts so far.

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