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Bolt from the blue kills top sprinter, and devastates owner

ANDREW EDDY, JOHN SCHELL AND CRAIG YOUNG

15 Nov, 2008 01:00 AM

FOR leading racehorse owner David Moodie, the news yesterday that his group 1 sprinter Sunburnt Land had been killed by a lightning strike in a paddock was one of the worst blows he had suffered in more than 20 years in racing.

Moodie was last night still coming to terms with the loss of the rising star, which was struck by a lightning bolt at Moodie's property near Woodend on Thursday night.

"A million - no, a zillion - to one chance," Moodie said. "He was hit directly on the wither. There are burn marks on the wither and at the bottom of one of his legs where it exited.

"It had to be him, didn't it? I've got about 120 horses and almost double that in cattle up there. If it had hit a cow, well, you'd feel upset, but this has just done me over. He only went out to his normal paddock on Monday for a spell. I just put him in with a couple of mates. I don't change their routine just because they're good horses. He was just in with a slow one, and it [the lightning] hits him."

Sunburnt Land had started 18 times for eight wins and earned almost $380,000 in stakes, but was only beginning to make his mark in racing. He ran third last Saturday at Flemington at his first attempt at a group 1 race in the Patinack Farm Classic, and Moodie said there were high hopes he could be Melbourne's sprint star next autumn. "Those autumn sprints in Melbourne where there for him," he said. "He was just going to go out for three weeks and come back for the Lightning [Stakes]. He had the world at his feet. He was one of these slow-maturing horses."

For Moodie, the death brought back memories of horses he has raced which had died suddenly.

"This is the fifth good horse I've lost in terrible circumstances," he said. "Arctic Scent [Caulfield Cup winner] died in foal to Danehill, and Black Bean [Galaxy winner] was put down at Moonee Valley, and then Cross Current [group winner] broke a leg at the same track. Desert Sky [dual group 1 winner] just dropped dead one morning at the track."

CLASS TO PREVAIL: Top jockey Michael Rodd is tipping class to prevail in today's Sandown Classic, with his mount Zipping out to win the race for the second year running. "It will be an interesting race but Zipping is suited by the weight-for-age against the horses he is up against," Rodd said yesterday.

Zipping had no luck in the Melbourne Cup, which he also contested last year before going on to win at Sandown.

"Obviously, Zipping is the best horse in the Sandown Classic so you'd expect him to be very hard to beat," he said. "He is going as well, if not better, than he was this time last year."

Rodd heads to Perth next week to ride the Tracey Bartley-trained Stradbroke Handicap winner Sniper's Bullet in the group 1 Railway Stakes.

"I was on him when he ran second behind All Silent at Flemington on Derby day, and he ran well that day," Rodd said.

SPRINT PREVIEW: World champion sprinter Takeover Target and Australian sprinter of the year Apache Cat will gallop in between races three and four at Ascot in Perth today as they prepare for a clash in the $400,000 Winterbottom Stakes at the track in two weeks.

Takeover Target had been due to contest the group 1 Patinack Farm Classic last weekend but trainer Joe Janiak had to miss that race with the gelding after noticing a stone bruise.

Apache Cat was sent out as a $2 favourite in the Patinack Farm Classic but ran the worst race of its career, with trainer Greg Eurell at a loss to explain its eighth placing.

FAB FINISH: VRC Oaks-winning trainer Kris Lees hopes Captain Bax and Absolutelyfabulous can continue the lucrative raid on the Melbourne carnival at Sandown today.

Captain Bax runs in the Kevin Heffernan Stakes, while Absolutelyfabulous contests the final event. "Captain Bax ran terrific down the straight at Flemington last week," Lees said.

"He won the race down the outside of the track on Melbourne Cup day but unfortunately a couple on the inside beat him home. The Heffernan is a nice race for him at weight-for-age. Under handicap conditions, he'd nearly have top weight."