Mister Impatience upset in Cup victory
Ballymore Stables’ proud record with staying horses was enhanced at Trentham on Saturday, when Mister Impatience scored an upset win in the $200,000 Wellington Cup.
Mike Moroney and associates’ record in major staying races is headed by Brew’s Melbourne Cup victory and now also includes four editions of the Wellington Cup. The first of those was with Yes Indeed in 1996, followed four years later by the VRC Derby winner Second Coming, who later that year finished third to his stablemate in the Melbourne Cup.
Graphic, who was the first major winner for Mike’s Matamata-based partner Chad Ormsby, became Ballymore’s third Wellington Cup winner in 2014 and Mister Impatience joined the list on Saturday with a dour staying effort. His cause was helped with a ground-saving ride by Sam Spratt to get up in the final strides and grab one of the favourites, Pentathlon.
That was Mister Impatience’s fifth start from Ballymore’s Matamata base, having been sent across from his senior co-trainer’s Flemington stable in October. Last winter he won the 3200-metre Queensland Cup and he was sent to New Zealand in the hope of replicating that form in our major staying races.
The first of those was the New Zealand Cup in November, in which he finished fifth, followed by the same placing in the Waikato Cup and a below-par effort in the City of Auckland Cup when unsuited by the soft ground.
‘‘It’s quite obvious that 3200 metres is his distance, so the Auckland Cup is a logical target for him next,’’ Mike said.
Mister Impatience is one of a number of European-bred horses bought at auction by Mike’s brother Paul with major southern staying targets in mind.
‘‘He cost a bit more than 100,000 guineas at a horses in training sale and by the time he landed in Australia he owed us about $260,000, so it’s been a worthwhile exercise,’’ Mike added.
Matamata horses also figured in a notable quinella result on Wellington Cup day, with Gary Hennessy’s home-bred Temple Tiger narrowly downing Te Akau’s Astrid.