WYONG DOUBLE HAS FOXWEDGE FLAVOUR

FRIDAY: December 9, 2022: THE boss might be away, but the momentum continues!

Whilst Hawkesbury’s leading trainer Brad Widdup and his family are enjoying a well-earned break, foreman Andre Rabbett ensured the stable flag kept flying high at Wyong yesterday.

Widdup’s 25th winner of the 2022-23 season arrived when Mum’s The Boss ($2.30 favorite) returned to the winning list in the Class 1/Maiden Plate (2100m).

Jockey Brenton Avdulla took bad luck out of the equation by making the running on the well-supported mare, and she was never seriously threatened.

Mum’s The Boss was at her strongest through the line in comfortably defeating Vincenzo ($3.30) and Tina’s Rock ($31) to post the second victory of her nine-start career.

“The plan wasn’t necessarily to lead, but to be positive on her,” Rabbett said this morning.

“It all worked out well, and it was good to see her get back into the winning list.”

A daughter of Group 1 winner Foxwedge, Mum’s The Boss is from the former Patinack Farm mare Second Draw, a dual winner in Brisbane and Sydney.

Her sire was one of the world’s great staying influences Galileo, who had to be put down last year because of a debilitating injury to his near foreleg which failed to heal after surgery.

“Mum’s The Boss is raced by Honeycomb Stud’s Adrian Whittingham, who specialises in pedigree analysis and believes the mare will run 2400m plus,” Rabbett said.

“Brad and Adrian rolled the dice toward the end of last season by sending her north for the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) after she had won her first race over 1600m at Kembla Grange on a heavy track.

“They were hoping she might earn a start in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks, but it all came too soon for her.

“Brad put visors on Mum’s The Boss yesterday instead of blinkers to enable her to catch sight of other horses coming from behind.

“She still has a lot to learn in terms of race tractability as Brenton (Avdulla) said it was only over the last 200m of yesterday’s race that she knuckled down.

“Yesterday’s win will undoubtedly lift her confidence, and we are now looking for another suitable race in the coming weeks.”

. Just as Widdup’s stable flag continues to fly high, so too does the Hawkesbury barn of Randwick trainer Michael Freedman.

He claimed his eighth winner of the season from his second stable at Hawkesbury when the promising filly Ponca also scored at Wyong, making it two wins on end.

And the Hawkesbury double had a real Foxwedge flavour about it.

Ponca ($4.20) followed up on a breakthrough 1200m Gosford Maiden success against her own sex on November 19 by making the transition to Class 1 Handicap company with ease.

Ridden by Tom Sherry, Ponca was given a lovely run behind the pace from an inside draw and showed a nice turn of foot in the straight to comfortably overhaul front-runner Shines ($4.40) and score decisively.

A beautifully-bred American Pharoah three-year-old, Ponca is a half-sister to the 2012 Group 1 William Reid Stakes winner Foxwedge.

She keeps taking the next step to the extent that a hat-trick doesn’t appear beyond her when she turns up at the races gain.