Trainer Dominic Sutton shakes of Caulfield Guineas heartbreak to claim Australian Guineas with Feroce
Rising star of the training ranks Dominic Sutton landed his first group 1 victory with Feroce in Saturday’s Australian Guineas at Flemington.
Horse Racing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Character-building defeats made a breakthrough Group 1 sweeter for rising star trainer Dominic Sutton as Feroce roared to victory in the Australian Guineas at Flemington.
Feroce, touched off in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas last year, would not be denied again, wearing down plucky New Zealand raider Savaglee on Saturday.
Victoria Derby winner Goldrush Guru rounded out the top three from favourite Sepals.
READ: ‘That’s amazing’: Fly’s buzzing over Guineas victory
“To be honest, I’ve just been having a really tough run of running seconds recently, so I was hoping to just get a winner anywhere,” Sutton said.
“So to do it on the biggest stage of all with this horse, he’s been the flag bearer for our stable since day one … it took a long time to get over the Caulfield Guineas, I’m not going to lie.
“A lot of people were congratulating us, but I still felt pretty bitter about it all, thinking that we could have won on that day… sometimes you think, ‘am I going to be waiting for a long time now until the next one comes along?’.
“The horse has just been super. He’s just improved, improved, improved. He was probably the third ever horse we’ve bought out of the sales, and I’ve got to thank Johnny McKeever.”
Feroce tracked eventual runner-up Savaglee in transit and gradually wore down the Kiwi in the straight.
“I was just hoping he’d really knuckle down and go past that leader,” Sutton said.
“He’s had a tendency of just getting his head up a little bit, but once Billy (Egan) changed the stick through, and gave him a couple more reminders, he really let down and flew.”
READ: Arch All-Star bound? ‘That sounds like a Monday problem’
Egan was thrilled to get the result for Sutton.
“I’m just really happy for Dom, you know,” Egan said.
“For a young bloke, having so many horses in his first year of training and also having Group 1 runners ... there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that and he handles himself really well.
“He’s got his fiancee, Raq, and he’s got his parents as well, they’re all very supportive of him, so it’s just great that he can handle himself in such a way and do an amazing job.”
The Australian Guineas worked out perfectly for Egan despite barrier 11.
“We had the plan to press forward and be just behind those leaders, so we weren’t too far away, because he just hasn’t got a huge sprint,” Egan said.
READ: Amelia’s Jewel ends long drought with emphatic Guy Walter win
“He can really hold a good gallop and just sometimes things go your way, you know, like we had the plan. Not often you get it presented to you like that, but it just worked out a treat.”
Egan appreciated his first Group 1 in Melbourne, especially at Flemington.
“To ride a Group One winner at Flemington’s really nice, especially as my parents are here,” 2023 SA Derby winner Egan said.
“The last time my old man came to the races, I got beat on Cherry Tortoni in this race, so I was almost going to tell him to $### off when he said he was coming today, but they’re here, so I better thank my parents too.”
Originally published as Trainer Dominic Sutton shakes of Caulfield Guineas heartbreak to claim Australian Guineas with Feroce
Randwick Guineas ‘fork’ in Broadsiding’s autumn path
Trainer James Cummings will use Saturday’s Randwick Guineas result to help lock in the rest of boom colt Broadsiding’s autumn campaign.
Savvy Hallie’s wide draw has Widdup cautious
An outside draw has made Savvy Hallie’s task a lot harder in the Reisling Stakes at Randwick but trainer Brad Widdup’s opinion of her won’t change regardless of the result.