If you watched the Caulfield Guineas just two Saturdays ago, you might have found yourself chatting about who came third rather than who won the race.
While the son of The Autumn Sun, Autumn Boy, was impressive in his 2.6L Guineas win, it was Observer who stole all the chatter.
Ciaron Maher’s three-year-old colt had one of, if not the, most luckless races of the Spring thus far, being cut off numerous times in the straight with a head full of steam.
But he still managed to claw his way to third, and that got everyone's tails wagging.
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From there, Observer shot into a short-priced $1.75 favourite for his next up run in the G2 Drummond Golf Vase, where if it wasn’t for jockey Mark Zahra’s arrogant finish—for which he was later fined for—the colt would have won the Vase by far more than his final 0.5L win.
Now, Maher takes Observer to the 2500m Victoria Derby at Flemington this Saturday.
He sits an odds-on favourite, with Zahra again on board, and drawing a near perfect barrier four.
John O’Neil—a prominent owner in the horse racing industry who owned Warning during his emphatic Victoria Derby victory in 2019—labeled Observer a ‘freak.’
“It’s a sit and steer, stand and cheer in the Derby,” O’Neill said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“He is a freak, a very nice horse,”
“We all saw he had absolutely no luck in the (Caulfield) Guineas and just won (at The Valley) with authority,”
“The form out of this race leading into the Derby is always incredible,”
“Sure he’s going to be short but don’t be trying to dance around because he’ll just be winning. (Mark) Zahra will be riding and he’s dangerous this time of year.”