It’s take two for an emerging three-year-old at Thursday’s Kembla Grange meeting, 11 weeks after a somewhat under-the-radar debut.
Cool Drinks, a gelding by Kiwi sire Cool Aza Beel in the Randwick stable of John O’Shea and Tom Charlton, was due to return at last Thursday’s Hawkesbury meeting before being one of many scratchings from a Super Maiden over 1300m.
Racing returns to Kembla Grange on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
Wary of a surface that day bordering on heavy, Cool Drinks was put back on ice for a further week, and now tackles a very winnable maiden handicap over the same distance at Kembla.
And connections got their wish of a much firmer surface, with the gelding emerging as one of the best value “plays” across an open meeting.
Cool Drinks caught the eye late when having his first run in a two-year-old maiden at Wyong on Soft 7 ground a month into winter.
From last on the turn and covering plenty of ground, he picked up strong late, and finished only a bit over two lengths from the smart Sapling who then ran well next start in a deeper Saturday field at Randwick.
And further franking the form out of that race, second-placed Tequisoda then roared home to win next start at Hawkesbury, while third-placed Fabres also hit the line impressively in his next two outings.
It augurs well for Cool Drinks who has been kept ticking over since two improving trials, and has been fitted to run this journey out strong, likely settling well off the speed.
His high class and lightly raced sire Cool Aza Beel bolted in the Group 1 Sistema over 1200m at Auckland’s Ellerslie track back in the autumn of 2020.
