It’s A Dundeel overcomes scare to deliver faultless display in Queen Elizabeth Stakes

IT'S A Dundeel took the entire autumn but yesterday showed why he’s the highest-rated middle distance horse in the country.

IT’S A Dundeel took the entire autumn but finally showed why he’s the highest-rated middle-distance horse in the country in yesterday’s $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

But it did not come without its share of drama.

It’s A Dundeel slipped over in the saddling area before the Queen Elizabeth but was passed fit to run.

Then he was reluctant to enter Randwick’s “Theatre of the Horse” mounting enclosure as the noise built to fever pitch.

Despite this, winning trainer Murray Baker was unfazed.

“I couldn’t saddle him in the stalls and had to take him to the swab stalls. He was a real handful but it didn’t bother me,” Baker said.

“The vets have a job to do and they said he was fine to run, so I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.

“He’s a happy horse and I thought he would be hard to beat today.”

The race also further showcased the undoubted talent of James McDonald, who had won the Oaks earlier in the day with a faultless display.

After coming in for criticism earlier in the autumn, he was positive out of the gates on It’s A Dundeel this time. From the halfway mark, you could see he was going to be the horse to beat, with Carlton House setting a solid tempo in front.

This was McDonald’s 10th Group 1 win in Australia, with his breakthrough coming in the 2011 Queensland Oaks on Scarlett Lady.

James McDonald saviours his triumph. Picture: Getty Images

“I am very lucky the support I have had here from the Hawkes team and John O’Shea,” McDonald said.

“O’Shea got me over and that was the best thing I could ask for and now Sydney is home.

“We’ve worked all the autumn for this. When he worked on Tuesday, I got off and said ‘they don’t work as good as the way he works’.

“He was back to his best and it was so good to win today.”

McDonald suggested it would be his last ride on the horse, but that may not be true.

Managing part-owner John Messara said he would decide this week if It’s A Dundeel makes a tilt on the Royal Ascot carnival.

“It is a bad idea to make race-day decisions,” he said.

“I am going to sleep on it for a couple of days, consult fellow members of the syndicate and then come back.”

Baker, who rates It’s A Dundeel as the best horse he has trained, is resigned to losing the stallion to stud this year, but said in his opinion, the horse was only just coming to his top.

“He’s by High Chaparral from a Zabeel mare, so that alone tells you he’s likely to keep getting better,” Baker said.

Managing part-owner John Messara says he will decide this week if It’s A Dundeel makes a tilt on the Royal Ascot carnival. Picture: Simon Bullard