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SYDNEY - South Auckland trainer Richard Yuill has Australia's top riders queuing for the mount on his smart stayer Mandela after his Doomben demolition in Brisbane.
After a gun ride by Darren Beadman from barrier 16, Mandela put a 2 3/4-length gap in the field in the group-three A$100,000 ($115,100) Chairman's Handicap to make him one of the favourites for the Brisbane Cup on June 11.
Yuill said he would do everything he could to convince Beadman to stay with Mandela in the Premier's Cup at Doomben on May 29, then the Brisbane Cup.
"I'd love him to ride the horse in the Brisbane Cup, he's an absolute genius and what more could you ask for than what he produced today," Yuill said on Saturday.
But yesterday the trainer said Beadman remained non-committal as he juggled requirements for the powerful John Hawkes stable.
Beadman was impressed, after slotting the Ebony Grosve gelding one-off the fence and putting the race beyond doubt halfway down the straight.
"He's got a touch of quality about him," Beadman said.
Yuill reported the phone had been ringing hot from Melbourne where Craig Williams was "very keen" to get back on, after piloting Mandela to a Geelong Cup victory last October then a ninth placing in the Melbourne Cup.
Williams will take the ride in the Premier's if Beadman doesn't.
A repeat tilt at the 3200m Flemington epic in November is prominent in Yuill's mind as he grows increasingly confident about the five-year-old's ability to run out two miles.
"I don't think you can condemn him on last year's run. He's a different horse now. He'd had only 22 starts then and he's matured a lot since."
Mandela was one of eight New Zealand-trained runners in the Chairman's, making up half the field.
"We should have all thrown in $20,000, had a match race back in New Zealand and saved ourselves some money," Yuill joked.
Kenny Rae's Wellington Cup placegetter Mirkola Lass burst from the pack to run an excellent second while the Roger James-trained Cypress Point ran on from well back to finish fifth.
Last year's Brisbane Cup runner-up, Gorgeous George, dropped out to finish 14th after being three-wide the whole journey for jockey Damien Oliver.
The favourite, Safwa ($3.60), finished last after being flattened in a skirmish on the home turn.
There was more New Zealand success at Doomben when Canterbury trainer Michael Pitman's sprinter Irish Sky ($11), with Glen Boss aboard, stormed home to win the A$50,000 Doomben Dash (1110m).
Fiorenza, trained by Graham Richardson, was the more favoured of the New Zealand pair but finished sixth after getting a good run on the fence.
New Zealand mare Gee I Jane was no match for Australia's best sprinters Bentley Biscuit and Takeover Target in a bid for a repeat win in the group one BTC Cup (1200m), finishing seventh after hitting a dead end halfway down the straight.
"She hit a flat spot then got going again late, I was very happy with the run," jockey Michael Rodd told Sky Channel.
- NZPA
