Ascot bound.

With a bit luck we will see JJ the Jet Plane at Ascot as the fields take shape.

Scenic Blast booked for Ascot trip

LEADING Perth-based sprinter Scenic Blast is booked to leave for his assault on Royal Ascot on May 27.

Trainer Dan Morton has completed his travel arrangements for Scenic Blast, who isset to tackle the King's Stand Stakes-Golden Jubilee Group 1 sprint double.

Morton has Scenic Blast in work in Perth and will transfer him to Melbourne next month for the May 27 flight to the UK.

Scenic Blast, who emerged as Australia's new sprint king with his Lightning Stakes-Newmarket Handicap double in Melbourne in February and March, will be stabled at Newmarket with Geoff Wragg.

Wragg's stables have hosted Takeover Target, Miss Andretti and other Australian horses who have taken on the Royal Ascot challenge in past years.

Takeover Target is set to join Scenic Blast in the UK after he races in Singapore next month.

Takeover Target dominant in Group 1


Report: Australia, Saturday
Randwick: TJ Smith Stakes (Group 1) 6f, turf, 3yo+

AGE shall not wither him, it seems. The ever-popular Takeover Target, now a rising ten-year-old, landed his seventh Group 1 success on Saturday with a dominant all-the-way victory in race-record time over a star-studded field in the TJ Smith Stakes.

A fourth visit to Royal Ascot is beckoning in the summer after Takeover Target, who marked what was probably his Sydney farewell by beating Northern Meteor by two and three-quarter lengths.

Sent off a 9-2 chance for the AUS $500,000 (£242,000) contest over 6f, Takeover Target received an ovation from thousands of racegoers at Randwick after blitzing his rivals under new jockey Nash Rawiller, who had controversially replaced regular rider Jay Ford.

"What a superstar - he's a champion," said Rawiller, who was completing a memorable Group 1 double at the autumn carnival after taking the AJC Sires Produce Stakes on Manhattan Rain.

"I was just a passenger," added Rawiller. "The further he went, the more he got into his rhythm and just waited until he topped the rise and got him really balanced and he exploded when it went for him."

Takeover Target will run next in the Goodwood at Morphettville in Adelaide on May 2 before another international campaign which will take him to Singapore and then a fourth visit to Royal Ascot.

"He needed that run and he'll only improve on that," said trainer Joe Janiak.

"It would be nice to knock Singapore off but the main objective is the Golden Jubilee in England."

Running for the first time since December, Takeover Target never looked back after battling for the early lead with the three-year-old Northern Meteor, due to be retired at the end of the season.

Old rival Apache Cat, made favourite after scoring his sixth Group 1 win in February, was under pressure soon after turning for home and could finish only third, nearly six lengths off an impressive winner.

"It was just magic, wasn'tit?" said Janiak. "To be able to get away from the class of horses that he did today was beautiful.
"He's just an honest horse, he enjoys racing - he's a happy horse and always puts his best in."

Takeover Target to be reunited with Ford


THE partnership between Takeover Target and Jay Ford, which had appeared over when he was replaced by Nash Rawiller at the weekend, will be restored when Australia's sprint champion tackles his next race in the Goodwood Handicap a week on Saturday.

Rawiller rode the horse to victory in last Saturday's T.J. Smith Stakes because trainer Joe Janiak said he did not want the nine-year-old tocarry a lot of "dead weight" but confirmed Ford would be back for his next start at Morphettville in the Goodwood Handicap.

"I took Jay off him because he was riding 51.5 last Saturday and I didn't want all of that dead weight having to be carried in such an important race," he told the Melbourne Age.

"We were confident that he would perform well in the T.J. Smith but we knew there was plenty of improvement to come. But he showed justhow good a horse he is when he ran away from those horses that were years younger than him."

Takeover Target will go to Adelaide next week before embarking on a farewell overseas campaign in which he will tackle the $1 million KrisFlyer in Singapore on May 17 and then will travel to England for the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Ascot on June 20.

"It would be nice to finish off his career by winning the Golden Jubilee as he's finished second, third and fourth in his only three tries at the race. And after his runs in Adelaide and Singapore he should be at his peak," Janiak said.