Gringotts in line for rich treble after landing massive plunge in The Gong at Kembla Grange

Gringotts will be given his chance to complete a multimillion-dollar mile treble after adding The Gong to his Big Dance success.

Tommy Berry shows his delight as Gringotts brings up another feature win in The Gong at Kembla Grange. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Gringotts is on track for an unprecedented feature race, multimillion-dollar mile treble after another outstanding effort at the Kembla Grange stand-alone meeting on Saturday.

Despite being burdened with topweight of 60kg, Gringotts dominated from the front, defying his chasing rivals to pull off a sensational betting plunge in the Group 2 $1m The Gong (1600m).

This comes after Gringotts won the $3m The Big Dance over the famous Royal Randwick mile and he’s likely to return to that course and distance for the Group 2 $2m The Ingham on December 14.

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Johann Gerard-Dubord, the stable representative for trainer Ciaron Maher, said there is every likelihood Gringotts will be given his chance to complete The Big Dance-The Gong-The Ingham treble.

“If he pulls up well then The Ingham is a nice race for him,’’ Gerard-Dubord said.

“He’s only had four runs this campaign and we will still think he’s improving, too.’’

Gringotts landed a massive plunge, firming from $5 into $2.60 favouritism, and was aided by a confident Tommy Berry ride to score by three-quarters of a length from Suparazi ($26) with Steparty ($7.50) 1½ lengths away third.

Waterford (fourth) and Encap (fifth) both finished The Gong off strongly on a track which clearly favoured those on-speed while Territory Express (11th) blew his chances at the start when he missed the jump by five lengths.

GRINGOTTS WINS THE GONG! 🏆

What a dominant performance in what has been an unbelievable few months of racing for @cmaherracing! pic.twitter.com/3IZxes06Or

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) November 23, 2024

But it is difficult to take anything away from Gringotts given he had to be ridden with intent early to cross from barrier 14 and take up the frontrunning role before going onto to set a weight-carrying record for The Gong.

“I’ve got to admit Gringotts is a bit better than I thought he was,’’ Berry said.

“For a horse to win with 60kg, he was sort of toying with them half way down the straight when he spotted the horse (Steparty) out wide on the track about the same time I did and he just put the afterburners on.

“He had more to give and he seems to get better the further he goes into a preparation.

“I know I’ve had to deal with some tricky gates but I don’t know if I can take too much credit because he is a very easy horse to ride.’’

Berry was being typically modest as he was tactically perfect on Gringotts, even giving the horse an “easy’’ sectional mid-race and ensuring the gelding had energy reserves for the sprint home.

Gringotts improved his record to nine wins (and seven placings) from 17 starts, taking his career earnings to just over $3m.

Gerard-Dubord described Gringotts as a “proper” horse and declared the best is yet to come from the five-year-old gelding.

Gringotts races clear of third-placed Steparty. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

“I think he is a Group 1 horse because he’s still improving,’’ Gerard-Dubord said.

“On a day-to-day basis, he’s still learning and lacks confidence, so there is still maturing to come.

“To do what he is doing now, knowing there is more to come, it is very exciting.

“He doesn’t mind the ‘give’ in the tracks but he is still very good on the firm track today, he was just better than them.’’

Gringotts capped another memorable day for the all-conquering Maher stable which also won the $1m The Meteorite at Cranbourne with Nadal.

Gerard-Dubord said Gringotts will return to Maher’s state-of-the-art Bong Bong training complex with every likelihood the gelding will go to The Ingham next month.

“He’s had a very good preparation and he has been so consistent,’’ he said.

“The Big Dance was the main target but he had only had three runs coming into The Gong.

“This race was hard to bypass with the big money race on a big track and the horse is going so well.

“While he is going this well, it is hard to stop as he has only had a light preparation so far, and The Ingham is coming up.

“We can take him to Bong Bong and keep him nice and fresh. The Big Dance, The Gong and The Ingham is a nice treble and the way he did it today, he will be hard to beat again in The Ingham.’’

Originally published as Gringotts in line for rich treble after landing massive plunge in The Gong at Kembla Grange