Yes, Sir but no sirree for Kiwis at Rosehill

Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet won his second Group 1 race on Australian soil at Rosehill yesterday, claiming a decisive victory in the A$1.5 million Group 1 Tancred Stakes.

Australia’s only top-level weightfor-age contest over 2400 metres saw Sir Dragonet, formerly trained by Aidan O’Brien, easily dispatch his rivals where several market leaders failed to perform to expectations.

New Zealand horses Melody Belle (sixth) and The Chosen One (11th) were well off the pace.

Melody Belle suffered muscle tieup in the lead-up to stepping up to the 2400m distance.

Ridden by Glen Boss, Sir Dragonet beat 96-handicap-rated Dundeel mare She’s Ideel by two-anda-quarter lengths, with 2019 VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound a long neck away in third.

Sir Dragonet has been unplaced from four starts since his debut Australian win in last October’s Cox Plate, finishing sixth in the Melbourne Cup (3200m), seventh in the CF Orr Stakes (1400m), ninth in the $5m AllStar Mile (1600m) and fourth in the Ranvet Stakes (2000m).

“It’s good to get him back to his best form. He put the writing on the wall with his last run [in the Ranvet Stakes] and I suppose the [seven-day] back-up was the only little query but he was super,” co-trainer Ciaron Maher told racing.com after the race. “Glen [Boss] rode him very confidently and had him relaxed.”

Boss believes Sir Dragonet derived plenty of benefit from his Ranvet run and was a fitter horse in the Tancred.

“These horses are never out of work when they are in Europe, so they don’t get the chance to get fresh and he got fresh here and got a little bit above himself,” Boss said.

“Obviously his form and ratings plummeted because he wasn’t winning, but we just trusted the process and completely blocked out all that noise and just concentrated on the job at hand.

“He’s got here on a good track over a mile-and-a-half and he’s given them an absolute spanking.”