For Baster, this prize meant the most
Beating the internationals in the major cups has become a task for Australian-bred stayers, but Mithen said Runaway’s victory was a strong advertisement for not only his business but the Australian industry.
“We’re really proud we’re able to produce that level of horse,” he said.
“We’ve been doing it consistently for a few years now so hopefully that’s a feather in our cap now.
“We’re gaining some traction in the industry as breeders and owners of smart racehorses and he’s gone to the top of the pops for now.
“I think that makes it all the more special (that we bred him) — the colours, and we still own a good chunk of him, we took him to a sale and sold him to Gai and went back into him.
“She was going to syndicate him and we said, ‘We’ll keep a big chunk of him because we love him’.”
It was a start-to-finish win for jockey Stephen Baster, with Mithen confident at the turn that Runaway could salute.
“I know he’s a strong horse that loves to lead and loves to bowl and, to be honest, when nothing took him on down the back, I thought, ‘We’re going to be in this for a long way’ and as it was, that’s how it turned out,” he said.
The win keeps a Melbourne Cup dream alive, but Mithen knows his galloper might have to win the exempt Lexus Stakes at STEPHEN Baster has ridden more than a dozen Group 1 winners across his two-and-ahalf decade stint in racing, but he says his first Geelong Cup will rank up there with the very best of his career.
The 43-year-old claimed his first win in the event yesterday on board the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Runaway, who never let go of his early lead to outlast chasing pair Northwest Passage and Finche. Flemington on Saturday week to book a start.
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter will decide today how much of a penalty Runaway will be hit with to move up the Cup order of entry.
“If we do the Lloyd Williams thing and talk him up and say, ‘There was no stopping him today’, he needs 8kg and we go straight into the Melbourne Cup,” Mithen said.
“I’ll leave it to Greg Carpenter because he’s the best judge in the business.
“A horse that runs third in the (South Australia) Derby as a threeyear-old, wins a St Leger, Aussie bred — 20 minutes that way we bred him — I think he deserves his spot and Greg will too.”
But it was local owners Nigel Austin and Anthony Mithen, who head up Rosemont Stud farm, to whom Baster dedicated the stunning victory.
He said the support from that pair throughout his career made the win all the sweeter for him, adding that he was delighted to be able to deliver Rosemont its first local Cup.
“This horse, I’ve ridden him a fair bit and the owners have been great to me. They just keep putting me on and it is their hometown cup so it is a bit of a dream come true for everybody,” Baster said.
“I have been doing this job for a long, long time. Riding winners is great, but to ride winners for people who have been supporting you for many years, that is the big thrill.”
Baster was on board Runaway when he finished fourth in his last start in the Cranbourne Cup and had told Mithen and his team he was screaming out for a longer trip.
He also had the ride when the four-year-old took out the VRC St Leger over 2800m at Flemington earlier in the year, and when the Waterhouse/ Bott team made the call to send him to Geelong for the Cup, he was keen to once again partner the rising stayer.
“I was obviously concerned (about the imports) because of the class step up, but he has done it before, he has stepped up in the St Leger and has showed he is a good horse,” he said.
“So coming in today I thought he was a good chance, so long as he didn’t get annoyed too much in front. He was only third up so it is an amazing training effort. The team has done a great job.”
Baster said Runaway ran the near perfect race after starting from barrier 12 to put pressure on the highly regarded raiders.
He said that provided he got an appropriate penalty from handicappers after the win, he was confident Runaway could be a genuine threat in the Melbourne Cup.
“You never know, he obviously won a St Leger and he won that well over 2800m so I don’t think two miles will be a problem,” he said.
“He steps up every time we ask him and he is a little champ now for the guys.”