SUNDAY: March 9, 2025: BRAD Widdup has been looking for a horse to fill the shoes of his now retired maiden Group 1 winner Icebath.
Jedibeel’s stunning victory in yesterday’s Group 2 Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Royal Randwick showed he is the “man for the job” – and ready to tackle a Group 1 assignment in a fortnight.
Hawkesbury’s leading trainer is looking forward to chasing another major in the $1m The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens.
Jedibeel ($10), ridden by Tyler Schiller, was electric over the closing stages to leave his rivals with no excuses in the $500,000 Challenge, boosting his imposing record to eight wins and seven placings from 18 starts.
Such was his sprint that he clearly defeated a late-finishing Kimochi ($4.20) and $2.60 favorite I Am Me.
Brad’s gamble to put five-year-old gelding Jedibeel in weight-for-age company for the first time paid off.
“I was going to wait a week for the Group 2 Maurice McCarten Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill, but I would not have backed him up the following week in The Galaxy if I had done that,” he said.
“Jedibeel has been going well at home, and Tyler (Schiller) was keen to ride him in The Galaxy, so we took the punt and ran him in the Challenge.
“He has pulled up well.
“The Galaxy won’t be easy taking on the likes of Private Harry and Briasa, but if Jedibeel gets the race run to suit as he did yesterday, he has that brilliant turn of foot at the end.”
Unbeaten Newcastle three-year-old Private Harry is the current $2.50 favorite with TAB.com.au for The Galaxy, with last November’s The Hunter winner Briasa second favorite at $6.
Jedibeel is a firming $15 chance following his sizzling Challenge victory.
New Zealand bred by Cox Plate winner Savabeel, Jedibeel fetched $30,000 there as a weanling in 2020 before being onsold as a yearling in Sydney the following year at the Inglis Classic sale for $190,000.
Purchased by Sydney businessman Mike Gregg, he races the gelding with grandson Locky Sheridan and in the bumble bee colours of his University of NSW cricket club.
Jedibeel has now earned just over $816,000, and a Group 1 win or second on Saturday week will soar that past $1m.
Jedibeel gave Brad his 48th winner of the season – he is well on track to surpass his season’s best 63 in 2021-22 – and his career 405th.
Jedibeel’s stablemate Colours Of Autumn finished fourth in yesterday’s Provincial-Midway Championships Qualifier (1400m) at Hawkesbury, and is likely to press on to the Wild Card (1350m) at Wyong on March 29, where all three placegetters join the line-up for the $1m Final (1400m) at Randwick on April 12 on Day 2 of The Championships.