EXCITING Corowa sprinter Front Page is officially not for sale.
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The owners of Front Page rejected the final offer on Wednesday morning. The three-year-old will go to the paddock on Thursday before returning for a spring campaign.
Corowa trainer Geoff Duryea described the latest offer from Hong Kong as 'mindboggling' but revealed connections had voted to keep and race the son of Magnus.
It has been a whirlwind few days for Duryea and connections since Front Page's impressive win in the listed Creswick Stakes (1200m) at Flemington last Saturday.
Offers from Hong Kong has flooded in, with the final bid 'well and truly over $1 million', according to Duryea.
"It's been hectic. Since Saturday afternoon I've averaged 60 phone calls a day," Duryea said.
"It's been hectic but it's good. It's been good for the town, Corowa, a lot of people are talking about it."
Connections knocked back a significant offer from Hong Kong on Tuesday, before a considerably higher bid came later that day.
Duryea passed the offer on and a final decision was made on Front Page on Wednesday morning.
"I only finalised everything at 10 o'clock this morning after a round table conference that we knocked the last offer back," Duryea explained.
"I spoke to them all and told them the figure and it blew a heap of them away. I haven't been overly surprised but I was surprised at the last offer, which I put to the syndicate.
"I said I need to know, because (Wednesday) morning is D-day, he's either for sale or he's not. Because if he's not, he's going to have to go into the paddock because we're getting too far behind. If he's for sale, I'll go that way and organise vets and that sort of thing.
"Anyway, they got back to me and a couple of them were are umming and ahhing, but the rest of them all said no.
"I was 50-50, to tell you the truth. The money was mindboggling. A lot of the people in him are retired or very comfortable, but there's a couple in him that the money would have really helped. But they all said look, sure the money would be a help but I don't care if it goes the race way, I'm super happy to keep going."
Front Page will join his sister News Girl in the spelling paddock on Thursday.
The $1.3 million Kosciuszko is one of a number of options on the table for the spring but he is no certainty to head that way despite moving into the second line of betting at $6 for the feature for country sprinters.
Duryea, who watched the race at home on his own on Saturday, and connections are looking forward to restrictions being lifted so they can attend the races to watch Front Page in action.
"It's been a good ride, that's for sure," he said.
"Now that he's stopping here, I've just got to hope that everyone's pulled the right rein."
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ONE Southern District trainer that will join Geoff Duryea amid the thick of the Kosciuszko action is Albury counterpart Mitch Beer.
The 2019 Magic Millions Cup winner Redouble will join the Beer stable to be targeted towards the $1.3 million feature for country sprinters.
The move has created plenty of controversy with some suggesting it is not in the spirit of the race for well-performed city horses to be sent to the country purely for a one-off million dollar race.
But Beer has stood by his move and believes what it is doing is exactly why the race was created.
"I've been actively and openly trying to get a Kosciuszko runner," Beer explained.
"I moved here for three things, that's Highways, the Country Championships and the Kosciuszko. We've managed to tick off two of those, so I moved heaven and earth to get a runner in the race.
"I looked through and didn't think any of mine were good enough, or ready to perform at that level and at the end of the day, the rules and regulations of the race are there for a reason and these sort of races are designed to promote country stables and this is exactly what they've done.
"The people who own this horse wouldn't know who I am if it wasn't for a Kosciuszko and now all of a sudden, they're entrusting me with their horse. We're not talking about a broken down hack either...the horse is in great form and has a lot of racing left in him so I've been given the opportunity purely on the race, which is what it's designed for."
Redouble has earned $1.2 million through his career to date with six wins from 40 starts. He joins the Beer yard from the Bjorn Baker stable.
"His recent form is good but his form on top of the ground is exceptional," he said.
"You don't earn that sort of money by fluke. He'd have to be one of the highest rated sprinters in country NSW for sure as a 99-100 rater. There's not too many that have earned that rating."
Beer will visit Redouble while in Sydney on the weekend, before sitting down and working out a plan of attack towards the Kosciuszko.
One part of the plan is already locked in is that Beer will be purchasing is fair share of Kosciuszko tickets.
"The Newmarket Tavern in Albury would want to have a fair amount of paper in their EBT," he said.
"I think the horse sells himself. Off the top of my head I don't know of too many higher rated (country) horses than him. I think the horse's form and prizemoney will do the talking but we'll be forming a couple of syndicates to get him in there on our own ticket.
"That's the exciting thing about the race, I know my owner database are excited and will get around him and I'm sure Albury will as well."
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THE Beer stable will be sending horses to both Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday.
Jawwaal will tackle the $67,500 TAB Highway Class Two Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday, with Brenton Avdulla to ride from barrier 13.
Beer is set to scratch Matsumoto from the same race and head to Caulfield instead for the $108,000 3YO Handicap (1440m), where Craig Williams is booked to ride.
"He was as impressed with the horse's first win as I was," Beer said.
"He's drawn better at Caulfield and the horse is VOBIS so that's the great thing about being here, you can accept in two places.
"He's a pretty exciting colt. In time, he'll be a top liner for me."
Beer moved into his new stables at Albury this week, which will see him have a capacity of 70 horses by the spring.
"It's been a terrific effort. I've had eight tradesman in here for the last six weeks. My staff have done an incredible job, they've embraced it, got excited, got around it and got a massive amount done," he said.
"We had 40 horses in new boxes last night with another 10 arriving before Monday."
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LEADING Southern District jockey Blaike McDougall received a hefty six-week suspension at Hawkesbury on Tuesday.
McDougall will be on the sidelines from Friday, July 10 until Friday, August 21 after being found guilty of giving false and misleading evidence to stewards.
McDougall was initially fined for $500 when he allegedly presented himself to the weighing room with the intent of weighing out with unapproved riding boots.
Stewards then issued him with a six-week suspension after he allegedly denied ownership of a pair of unapproved riding boots several times, before eventually admitting ownership.
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WAGGA owner Noel Penfold enjoyed his first city success at Sandown last Wednesday.
Penfold races Ilovethegame, a half brother to O' So Hazy, with Neville Murdoch.
The Greg Eurell-trained two-year-old won on debut at Sandown last week, scoring by a length.
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WHAT'S ON
GALLOPS
Saturday: Gundagai (TAB)
Monday: Albury (TAB)
TROTS
Friday: Wagga (TAB)
Tuesday: Young (TAB)
DOGS
Sunday: Wagga (TAB)