Ole Dancer foils Apocalyptic in Guineas
MELBOURNE - The Thousand Guineas made a welcome return to the Caulfield Cup card, producing an epic edition that saw local filly Ole Dancer emerge triumphant over star Sydney visitor Apocalyptic.
The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained daughter of Ole Kirk landed a breakout win on Oct 18 in the A$1.5 million (S$1.26 million) Group 1 mile event, which was just her fifth start.
It gave Victoria bragging rights over New South Wales, with Apocalyptic having travelled down after claiming Sydney's spring equivalent - the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1,600m) - and Moody was thrilled to see the stable's No 1 spring seed land her grand final.
"We knew we were in for a very light spring because we'd lost most of our big guns and this filly," said Moody.
"We weren't disappointed in her last two runs, barriers had just brought around her demise.
"We had great respect for the Sydney filly. She just rose to the occasion and out-toughed her.
"The other one might have had one too many, and maybe we had one not enough too, because I thought it was going to out-tough us halfway down the straight."
Ole Dancer (Blake Shinn), the second elect at $23, and favourite Apocalyptic (Mark Zahra) staged a duel that will go down as one of the most gripping battles of the race that was run on Caulfield Cup Day during the 1980s, had a stint as the feature of the Wednesday card and was run for the past two years in November.
The Michael Freedman-trained Apocalyptic took up the uncharacteristic role of pacemaker, with Ole Dancer settling outside her, and it was Shinn who demonstrated the earlier signs of aggression between the two favourites.
But Ole Dancer rallied soon after straightening to head Apocalyptic midway down the straight and while there were signs of life over the final 150m for favourite backers, Ole Dancer finished strongest to get home by a short neck.
Third was Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes winner Getta Good Feeling (Billy Egan), who enhanced her claims in the Group 1 VRC Oaks (2,500m) at Flemington on Nov 6 after finishing less than a length off the runner-up.
Shinn said it was a great race to be a part of and was full of credit for the performance of both horse and trainers.
"It was an exciting race, a thrilling race for me to even ride in," he said.
"Peter and Kat, you can just trust their horse's fitness and when the pressure came on, she came to the fore. It was a great effort."
It was the first Thousand Guineas success for Shinn and also both Coleman and Hall of Famer Moody, who made his name as a trainer when based at Caulfield before training was discontinued at the famous track.
In Sydney, trainer Joe Pride pulled off a training masterstroke when a blinkered Ceolwulf rediscovered his best form to land back-to-back wins in the A$5 million Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1,609m) at Randwick.
Ceolwulf had not quite reached the heights expected since claiming the Group 1 Epsom Handicap-King Charles III Stakes double last spring and Pride was the first to admit the horse was underachieving.
But he never lost faith in the Tavistock five-year-old's ability and that was vindicated on Saturday when Ceolwulf (Chad Schofield, $53) responded to the addition of blinkers for the first time with a classy win.
"I have said for a long time I've thought he was the best horse I ever trained and it has been a long 12 months waiting for him to win again in the manner in which he won last year," said Pride.
"A fair few firm tracks have played a role. I could throw a heap of excuses at you.
"No one wants to hear them. I was just so happy to see him return to what I know he's capable of.
"I'm sure he will have his time when he is very consistent. He has just been a little bit patchy with his form but he enjoyed having those blinkers on today."
RACING AND SPORTS