In today's Straight Shorts, Tavi Time wins Listed Scone Cup, Too Darn Lizzie to race in Yulong silks for Ciaron Maher stable, Cashbook takes out Inglis 2YO Challenge and James Cummings is starting to make preparations for a return to public training.

Kris Lees
Trainer Kris Lees has celebrated his second Scone Cup success in four years with Tavi Time winning the $200,000 Listed race. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)

Lees gets Scone Cup timing right for Tavi

Tavi Time has added to his black-type record, collecting his second stakes win and his ninth victory overall in the Scone Cup.

Delivering trainer Kris Lees with his second Scone Cup in four years, Tavi Time secured his place in the $3 million Big Dance in November, a race he ran fourth in last year, with his decisive victory in the $200,000 Listed race.

But before looking ahead to the spring with Tavi Time, who ran fifth in the Hawkesbury Cup second up, Lees will consider the Lord Mayors Cup in Sydney in a fortnight or send the five-year-old gelding to Brisbane.

“He won a lot of races early in his career, which bumped him up in weight and it just takes a little while for those types of horses to be able to race to that level, but he's found his groove now and he might have another crack at the Big Dance later in the year,” said Lees, who won the 2022 Scone Cup with Rustic Steel.

Jockey Jay Ford, who won the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup on Flying Bandit earlier this month, guided Tavi Time to a 1.81-length win over Strait Acer, who showed a return to form in his third run back from a spell. 

Grebeni ran third while $2.60 favourite Know Thyself failed to run on, finishing ninth.

“He drew a nice soft gate, which just enabled us to ride him in a neutral fashion and he travelled very sweetly in the run,” Ford said.

“I was very confident that he was going to let go for me, but once I manoeuvred between runners and got a split between the leaders, I was actually surprised how quickly he put the race to bed. He really let down well.”

Tavi Time was a $130,000 Inglis Ready2Race Sale purchase in 2021.

Too Darn Lizzie to fly Yulong colours

Group 2-winning mare Too Darn Lizzie, purchased by Ciaron Maher for $2.4 million at the recent Inglis Chairman’s Sale, will continue her racing career in the bottle green and white colours of Yulong.

Yulong-related buyer Zhao Zhijun purchased Too Dan Lizzie’s dam Enbihaar for $1.6 million at the same sale and her star Too Darn Hot filly will likely join her in the Yulong broodmare band in time.

Too Darn Lizzie has won two of her 12 starts, including a Group 2 Thousand Guineas Prelude, while she was placed in the Thousand Guineas in the spring when trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Also joining Maher stable out of the Chairman’s Sale is sprinting mare She Dances, previously with Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman.

The daughter of Street Boss was purchased by David Redvers and Widden for $775,000 and will now run in the Qatar Racing colours.

A Bonny start for Southport Tycoon

Group 1-winning mare Bonny Lass is likely to be booked into first-season Widden sire Southport Tycoon after being purchased for NZ$480,000 on Gavelhouse Plus this week.

Widden principal Antony Thompson said the Group 1-winning son of Written Tycoon, who kicks off his breeding career at $38,500 (inc GST) at Widden Victoria this year, was front of mind when he secured the daughter of Super Easy.   

“I bought Bonny Lass with Southport Tycoon in mind,” Thompson said. “I thought she’d be a lovely sort of mare for his first book. He’s a Group 1-winning sprinter and Guineas winner. She seems like a good fit.

“There’s a bit to work with on the pedigree side of things too, with Bonny Lass having Darci Brahma and Danehill along the top line, along with Centaine. For a young horse at stud, she appeals as a nice mare to help him get started.”

Bonny Lass was a Group winner as a two, three, four, five and six-year-old, and she won the 2024 edition of the G1 Waikato Sprint for trainers Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall

Her 26-race career produced eight wins, eight placings and $774,950 in stakes.

“Her two and three-year-old form was what really drew us to her,” Thompson said.

“She raced on as an older horse and continued to perform well while being reasonably lightly raced, but when you delve into her two-year-old form, she won her first couple of starts very impressively including a Group 2.

“She followed that up with two very solid Group 1ne placings against some high-quality opposition, like I Wish I Win and Sword Of State.

“Her ability to compete against the boys in some of those top-level sprints showed that she’s a mare with plenty of class.”

Cashbook too Smart for Inglis 2YO Challenge rivals

Canberra trainer Todd Smart’s affinity for the Inglis 2YO Challenge has been strengthened with Flying Artie youngster Cashbook winning the $200,000 Scone feature.

Smart trained Love Shuck to win the race in 2023 and Cashbook emulated his stablemate on Friday, the first day of the Scone Cup carnival.

Sydney jockey Adam Hyeronimus placed Cashbook near the lead and the gelding rallied strongly to beat Gilette (Exceedance) and first starter Cosmonaut (Cosmic Force).

“It's just such a joy to be here and do it again,” Smart said. It's unbelievable!”

Cashbook was a $28,000 purchase from the Widden Stud draft at the Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale last year for Smart and Wattle Bloodstock.

“It’s unreal, these owners are celebrating like they’ve won the Melbourne Cup, it means so much to them and I love the Inglis Race Series because of the opportunities like today that it gives a trainer like me and owners like these guys,’’ Smart said.

“This Scone race is awesome, it’s really great prize money and it’s a race I’ll absolutely keep targeting and hopefully win many more of.

“He’s a nice horse, Cashbook. Peter Twomey and I liked him at the sale and I was pretty confident coming here today that he’d run a nice race and to get the win is super.”

The gelding, bred by Julia Ritchie’s Bangalore Stud, is the second winner for the Snitzel mare Modonnica.

James Cummings and Dynamic join forces

Dynamic Syndications has become one of the first owners to forge a training relationship with James Cummings since it was announced he would leave his private arrangement with Godolphin.

Cummings confirmed last month that he would go public in his training model and is going through the process of finding somewhere to base himself.

Dynamic worked with Cummings when he was in partnership with his grandfather Bart and the syndicator was quick to snap up his services again.

“We held a good working relationship previously firstly with James and Bart when they trained in partnership, and then with James in his own right before James headed across to lead the Godolphin team,” Dynamic said on its website.  

“Now we can confirm that our relationship has been revived and we will be sending several horses to his new venture that will be ready to walk through the gate on 1st August 2025, Day 1 of the upcoming racing season.

“Logistically the only thing remaining is for James to acquire stables to train from and he is working closely with racing officialdom who are assisting James with this endeavour. This will be formalised over the coming weeks.”

There are two horses earmarked to go to Cummings already. The first is a So You Think colt out of Sultah, a half-sister Group 1 winner Rebel Raider - making him a half-brother to two stakes winners,  which sold for $85,000 at Magic Millions.

The second is a Stay inside filly out of Her Empire, a stakes-performed Deep Field mare from the family of stallions Hitotsu, Lean Mean Machine, Love Conquers All. That filly was a $140,000 buy from Inglis Easter.

Hall of Famer Lukas backs Triple Crown tradition

As he targets his eighth victory in the Preakness Stakes, and his second in as many years, legendary American trainer D Wayne Lukas has rejected calls to increase the gap between the Triple Crown races.

Lukas, now 89, became the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race last year when Seize The Grey won the Preakness. He takes outsider American Promise, a colt by Justify, into this year’s race.

American Promise was a last-start 16th in the Kentucky Derby, a race won by Sovereignty, who will not contest the Preakness, with Derby runner-up Journalism now a hot favourite for the second leg to be held on Saturday.

But talk that the two-week backup from Churchill Downs to Pimlico was a disincentive to horses trying to win the Triple Crown was rubbished by Lukas.

“I am not so sure that horses are so physically different now,” Lukas told TDN America when asked about the five-week Triple Crown schedule.

“I think it's the training and the mentality with what you're doing with them that has changed. (Bob) Baffert and I have won 15 (Preakness Stakes) between us. Our horses both generally get into the race.”

Lukas said the key was to do fast work with the horses between races.

“The whole secret in this game is learning how to read the horse. It's knowing when to back off or when to push ahead,” he said.

The 150th edition of the race will be the last Preakness run at Pimlico before a massive renovation of the Baltimore course. Laurel Park will host the 2026 edition.

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