Jericho puts Freedman on High Mode
LESS than a month after training Santa Ana Lane to win the VRC Sprint Classic, Anthony Freedman claimed Australia’s longest flat race the Jericho Cup (4600m), with High Mode underlying the trainer’s versatility.
High Mode was ridden to victory by Clayton Douglas, who continued his love affair with the Warrnambool track.
He claimed the Grand Annual Steeple and Brierly Steeple on Gold Medals there in May.
Garnering almost as much acclaim was the run of 11-year-old warhorse Crafty Cruiser, who finished second.
The Bryce Stanaway-trained Crafty Cruiser earned $50,000 for his placing, taking his earning to $998,141 from 143 starts, just shy of the magical $1 million mark. torquay-based Stanaway is considering setting him up for next year’s Jericho Cup, though retirement is still a possibility.
High Mode ($8) defeated Crafty Cruiser ($41) by three lengths, with Havana Haymaker ($7) 21/2 lengths away in third.
The inaugural running of the Jericho Cup proved to be a huge success, drawing an estimated 5000 spectators.
Freedman’s racing manager Brad Taylor said the Jericho Cup wasn’t on the stable’s radar until one of his part owners Darren Costigan spotted it and came up with a plan to get him to the race.
“Credit must go to Darren,” Taylor said yesterday.
“I was in Hawaii in July and he rang me and said to aim him at the Riverina Cup at Wagga in August. And if he won, which he did, that would qualify him for the Jericho Cup.”
Taylor said High Mode was always going to be an ideal horse for the 4600m race and once it was on his radar he had been trained specifically for it.
“The lead-in had all gone to plan,” Taylor said.
“At his last start at the Valley, he ran the fastest last 400m and 200m, and it’s not his track as he was flat on the corners.”
Douglas said he didn’t panic when The Dominator made a mid-race move to dash clear and strung the field out.
“He’s really good to ride. I can put him anywhere in the run,” Douglas said.
“They went slow early until The Dominator took off and strung the field out, but I wasn’t really worried.
“He handled the corner down the bottom of the hill really well and he saved ground.”
Douglas said High Mode was full of running even at the end of the 4600m race.
He quipped he could have gone another lap.
“It was a great training effort by Anthony as he earmarked this a long way out,” Douglas said.