Super colt Winning over Lloyd as he sets course for Magic Millions Guineas
JEFF Lloyd reckons money-making machine Winning Rupert is the horse he has longed to come across ever since he set up base in Australia.
JEFF Lloyd reckons money-making machine Winning Rupert is the horse he has longed to come across ever since he set up base in Australia.
Winning Rupert took his earnings to the brink of $1 million at just start No. 5 when he made a one-act affair of Saturday’s Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate at Eagle Farm.
The $128,000 first prize came with a $500,000 Summer Crown bonus after his two previous Brisbane wins.
The winning margin was a mere three lengths, with the clock stopping in 1min15.07sec, which is 1.68sec better than the previous best 1300m run on the new Eagle Farm surface and not far off Mitanni’s old track record of 1min14.8sec.
“I have been wishing and hoping that before I stopped riding I would be able to get on another good horse,” Lloyd said.
“I am just so fortunate Bjorn (Baker) has given me this opportunity.
“Wolf Power was the best horse I ever rode.
‘‘He won 14 Group 1 races in South Africa and broke a number of course records.
‘‘This is the best horse I have ridden since him. He is just so exciting and he’s getting better all the time. He puts them away so effortlessly.”
Lloyd dismissed any concerns there may have been about Winning Rupert seeing out 1400m in the Magic Millions Guineas.
“I don’t ask him for much more than I have to,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m sure there will be more there if he needs it.
“If you can run 1200m as fast as he did last time, there’s no reason they won’t get 1400m with the softer tempo.”
Bjorn Baker again watched the race from interstate, with stable representative Claire Cunningham claiming Winning Rupert had ticked another box with his more controlled effort on Saturday.
“It was important not to go out in 34 seconds like he did last time,’’ Cunningham said.
‘‘He needs to be professional and it was nice to see him settle comfortably and that’s going to be a key to him winning races over further.’’
Winning Rupert is a Queensland-bred colt and cost Baker $67,500 at the 2015 Magic Millions March (QTIS) sale.
Gun colt runs riot and so does Muncey
CHRIS Munce was pumping his legs just as hard as his gun colt Ours To Keep in the wake of Saturday’s B.J. McLachlan Stakes.
In the wash-up, Ours To Keep was made $6.50 third pick for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, behind Sydney winner From Within ($5) and Gai Waterhouse’s Invincible Star ($6).
Having ticked off his first two stakes successes a fortnight ago, Munce was the most jubilant person at Eagle Farm after Ours To Keep again franked his Magic Millions credentials in taking the Group 3 contest.
After completing the mandatory post-race interviews, Munce sprinted on to the track, Gary Moore style, to greet Ours To Keep, who moments earlier had comfortably held Goodfella and Coorg at bay.
Winning jockey Damian Browne was surprised to see Munce charging towards him.
“It was funny to see his little legs running towards you,’’ Browne said. “I’m glad I wasn’t riding him over the last furlong.”
Munce, one of a handful of jockeys to win Australia’s Grand Slam, is coming up to the second anniversary of being a trainer and he has long said the satisfaction he felt now surpassed anything he felt as a rider.
“There’s nothing like this,” he said. “The work you put into these horses, the satisfaction is just incredible when you see them come out and do what he has.”
And as for how he will cope with the next fortnight heading to the Millions, where Ours To Keep could possibly earn an additional $500,000 bonus?
“I will be a wreck,” he said.
Munce has no doubt Ours To Keep is up to the task and taking a line through Coorg, whose form ties in with boom Sydney winner From Within, he has to be right there in contention for the major prize in a fortnight.
“He’s had two tough runs, but I knew he had good improvement in him after the first-up run,” he said. “This horse has an enormous pain threshold, a great constitution and is a total professional.”
Browne had previously said he rates Ours To Keep favourably with his Blue Diamond winners Pride Of Dubai and Earthquake and he told connections after dismounting they have “the right horse” for the Millions.
“He does everything spot on and he put them away quickly,” Browne said.
“Chris has trained him beautifully and he will probably do a lap of honour if he wins the Millions.”
Second-starter Snitzkraft was strongly backed to beat Ours To Keep yesterday, but was not the best away and did a power of work to sit outside the leader Debonairly. Both faded out of the placings.
The McLachlan did little to alter the order of entry for the Magic Millions, with both Ours To Keep and Goodfella already safely in the field before yesterday.
So too was fourth-placed Bring It Home Pop, while third-placed Coorg is ineligible.
Originally published as Super colt Winning over Lloyd as he sets course for Magic Millions Guineas
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