Sir Lucan bounces back to best in Winter Cup at Rosehill Gardens

Former English stayer Sir Lucan has returned to his best form with a strong win in the Listed $200,000 Winter Cup (2400m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Sir Lucan wins the Winter Cup.

Sir Lucan went missing last week, but unlike his human namesake he turned up at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Former English stayer Sir Lucan returned to his best form with a strong win in the Listed $200,000 Winter Cup (2400m).

But what happened to the gelding last week when unplaced in the Lord Mayor’s Cup remains as big a mystery to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable as the unsolved disappearance of English aristocrat Lord Lucan 50 years ago.

Waterhouse spoke to The Sunday Telegraph from London after the race and admitted she was at a loss to explain Sir Lucan’s Randwick flop.

“I don’t know what happened last week, he can be an inconsistent horse,’’ Waterhouse said.

“He’s a bit like the girl with the curl (nursery rhyme), you never know which day he is going to put his best foot forward.

“He did so well during the week that Adrian decided to go for this race and I love back-up horses, particularly staying horses on wet tracks. He was able to show his best today.’’

Sir Lucan ($6), well ridden by Adam Hyeronimus, settled behind the leaders early and accelerated between runners in the straight to race clear and score by 1¾ lengths.

Adam Hyeronimus wins on Sir Lucan.

Hopeful ($3.50 favourite) was backing up from being runner-up in the Lord Mayor’s Cup to the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Eliyass last week and was thwarted by the stable when finishing second again while Gan Teorainn ($21) was a length away third.

Hyeronimus is convinced Sir Lucan does not have to lead in his races as the stayer demonstrated winning the Winter Cup.

“He doesn’t have to lead, I think it is a negative for him to lead, I really do,’’ Hyeronimus said.

“The biggest thing was not to rush him early and find a comfortable position. The speed was on early and we got into a nice spot.

“From there it was a matter of keeping him balanced. The track was playing towards the inside today and I tried to save ground when I could.

“His form shows he is a horse that has competed at a higher grade than this and he was strong to the line today.’’

Sir Lucan fights off Hopeful in the Winter Cup! 🏆

Some turnaround after finishing 9th last [e-mail]/RtlHV2gCNR

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 15, 2024

Neil Paine, the stable representative for Waterhouse and Bott, also could offer no excuse for Sir Lucan’s form turnaround.

“There are two of him – but the right one turned up today,’’ Paine said of Sir Lucan.

“What happened to him last week, I do not know, but we love Gai and Adrian’s horses on the back-up, they just fire.

“The pace was on, Adam got him to settle back fourth or fifth and he surged into the race from the 300m.

“Adam had his hands down his neck, bowling along, it was pretty to watch.’’

Waterhouse also singled out Hyeronimus for particular praise after the race.

“It was a lovely ride by Adam,’’ Waterhouse said.,

“Sir Lucan’s a big horse, a fiery, willing customer, and he’s a strong stayer.

“I was out at the Lambourn gallops the other day and was watching these English horses work, going up and down the hills. They are searching gallops.

Sir Lucan races away.

“No wonder the English stayers have such great anaerobic capacity. Sir Lucan was brought up like this, he’s a natural stayer.

“There is no reason why he can’t win again - we might back him up in something next week.’’

Sir Lucan gave Waterhouse and Bott their second Winter Cup after they combined to win with Knight’s Order in 2021.

Waterhouse has also won the race previously with Rueben Percival (2012) and Grand Connection (1994).

FORD LANDS CITY TREBLE ON IN FLIGHT

Jay Ford keep things short and sweet after the gun hoop brought up a rare Sydney Saturday treble aboard promising filly In Flight at Rosehill Gardens.

“Maybe I’m just a wet tracker,” Ford quipped.

Ford made the most of a beefed up book in Sydney with several jockeys’ room regulars riding on Stradbroke Handicap day in Queensland.

He hit the mark early with a last-to-first win on Swiftfalcon before scoring on the Chris Waller-trained Strathtay.

The Joseph Pride-trained In Flight continued his excellent run form when the filly reaped the benefits of a favourable inside draw in the ATC Foundation Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m).

Ford took a run closest to the fence in the straight before propelling In Flight ($6.50) to a three quarters of a length win over the Gary Nickson-trained One Destiny ($9.50), which edged out Pride’s Wild Botanica ($10) to lead home the minor placings.

It was In Flight’s third win in seven starts.

Another treble!

This time it's Jay Ford at Rosehill who wins aboard In Flight! ✈️@PrideRacingpic.twitter.com/Eudnbfl5PF

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 15, 2024

“She is another one of Provens that just fly under the radar and go through their grades slowly,” Ford said.

“She is building a lovely record. Obviously things didn’t go her away on a different sort of heavy track where as today she was able to travel a lot more comfortable.

“Initially the first portion of the straight she took a bit to get her footing in the ground but she was the strongest horse late.”

In Flight had been well beaten at her previous start but that came on the day that Rosehill races had to be postponed due to the state of the track.

“The difference in tracks when you have got rain on raceday can be quite dramatic and she was good in that today,” Pride said.

“It was a good win, she is a nice filly. She is quite promising and is only lightly raced. She is going through the grades quite quickly and that’s a Saturday winner early in her career.”

Ford wasn’t the only person to chalk up a treble on the card with premier trainer Chris Waller snaring a winning hat-trick in three consecutive races.

Amati completed the set for the stable when the mare prevailed in the Precise Air Benchmark 78 Handicap (1300m).

Sam Clipperton adopted a similar approach to Ford after launching his challenge closest to the fence with Amati ($7.50) surging past the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Ha Ha Ha ($14) to win by 1-1/4 lengths.

Tony Noonan’s Dazzling Lucy ($6.50) was a long head away in third.

“Amati obviously didn’t have to cover any extra ground. Sam gave her a lovely ride along the inside and they came off the inside fence which just gave her the saloon passage,” Waller’s assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said.

It’s Amati with the inside run who wins at Rosehill to give @cwallerracing a treble!@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/7oLGtLGaNF

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 15, 2024

“It was great to see her get her head in front. She obviously relishes these soft conditions which she probably hasn’t had for a long time excluding her run today.

“As Denise Martin just said, she was the last Sebring yearling sold at public auction so it’s a big moment for the Star Thoroughbreds team and was great to see.”

It was a third consecutive winning Saturday for The Everest-winning rider Sam Clipperton.

“I’ve been getting some nice opportunities for Chris and it is good to go out and execute those opportunities,” Clipperton said.

“I was able to bang her out and I would have loved to have stayed one off in the one-one but I didn’t want to get into an argument with anyone to do so in terms of keeping my fillies confidence up.

“It was about having her travelling. She relishes the conditions and is probably the best wet tracker in the race.

“Gai’s horse in front just rolled off slightly and to my horses credit, she booted through and I think she just need a bit of confidence like she go today and ended up winning quite impressively.”

Originally published as Sir Lucan bounces back to best in Winter Cup at Rosehill Gardens