\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Trevor Marshallsea\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Queman (Mint Lane) sealed a superb training effort in resuming from more than a year off to add another black type title to his CV in Saturday\u2019s Behemoth Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Morphettville.<\/p>\n
Having his first race in 69 weeks following a sesamoid injury, the tough son of obscure American stallion Mint Lane (Maria\u2019s Mon) came into the race off two barrier trials, and only started on the fifth line of betting in a seven-horse field, at $8.50.<\/p>\n
The seven-year-old had only once won beyond the 1100 metres of his 2024 Oakleigh Plate triumph\u2014when taking his 1200-metre maiden at Morphettville in April, 2022\u2014and co-trainer Shane Oxlade would later admit he felt Queman was vulnerable at that distance on Saturday.<\/p>\n
But rather than be cuddled, he went straight to the front under Connor Murtagh, and was out to a two-length lead through the middle stages.<\/p>\n
Queman\u2019s day out looked done for early in the straight when Ciaron Maher\u2019s dual stakes winner Recommendation (Shalaa), at $7, drew up to his outside on straightening.<\/p>\n
But as the pair knuckled down for an epic battle over the final 200 metres on the Soft 6 surface, it was Queman who dug the deepest, scoring by 0.3 lengths.<\/p>\n
The Listed-winning Lingani (America) was more than two lengths further back in third at $7.50, with $2.30 favourite Is It Me (Iffraaj) fourth.<\/p>\n
Oxlade was in an emotional state after watching his brave gelding tick over the $1 million mark in earnings with his tenth win from 24 starts, and his first on rain-softened ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty proud of the horse, to be honest,\u201d Oxlade, who trains with daughter Cassie at Strathalbyn, told Racing.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 1200 metres, I was worried, because he just likes to get up and get going. I said to Connor, \u2018Don\u2019t chase him out of the gates, just leave him alone, he\u2019ll get up and get travelling.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked vulnerable, but jeez he\u2019s a tough bugger. It\u2019s been a long time\u202669 weeks. He\u2019s been in work a long time. I\u2019m just really proud of the horse.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do that at 1200 metres, out of his comfort zone first-up, I\u2019m pretty rapt, to be honest. I knew he\u2019d run well but I thought he\u2019d be vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bred and co-raced by South Australian breeding and racing identity Francis \u201cBoof\u201d Smith, Queman stunned onlookers with his 0.1-length Oakleigh Plate triumph in February last year, as a $17 chance.<\/p>\n
It was his second black type victory on the bounce after he\u2019d lifted the W.J. Adams Stakes (Listed, 1000m) the month previous, also at Caulfield.<\/p>\n
He was spelled after two more runs and returned for a barrier trial last spring before his injury fate struck.<\/p>\n
With the long road of recovery successfully completed on Saturday, Oxlade said he would now look towards more stakes racing in the spring, with The Heath (Gr 3, 1100m) back at Caulfield on August 30 his next potential target.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to give him a couple of weeks and wait for the weather to turn,\u201d Oxlade said. \u201cHe\u2019s better on top of the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queman hails from modest stock to say the least.<\/p>\n
He is one of only three foals, and the only one to race, for 15-year-old mare Langreen (Clangalang), a country maiden winner. She bore a colt by Twin Hills Stud\u2019s Peltzer (So You Think) last year, but wasn\u2019t covered in the spring.<\/p>\n
Queman is one of four stakes victors, and the only one at Group level, for Mint Lane, who has 69 winners from 118 runners.<\/p>\n
Imported to Australia in 2010, he stood several seasons at South Australia\u2019s Willow Grove Stud. He was transferred to Victoria\u2019s Glen Eden Stud in 2019, but was returned to South Australia and disappeared from the stud book thereafter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Trevor Marshallsea Listen Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Queman (Mint Lane) sealed a superb training effort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-56390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}