Bounding snatches Railway
Daring ride from Mark Du Plessis pays off nicely
Mark Du Plessis still hurts when he recalls his Group 1 1000 Guineas ride on Bounding.
He was trapped three- wide in an eight- horse race that day and finished second in a ride that was roundly criticised afterwards.
But Du Plessis was still the goto jockey when Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso and Tirau owner Gary Harding decided to target yesterday’s Group 1 $ 200,000 Sistema Railway Stakes ( 1200m) at Ellerslie.
They figured he’d got it right every time prior, so why wouldn’t he get it right again?
Bounding drew barrier one on a track that wasn’t favouring those making their finishing run close to the rail in the straight.
So Du Plessis came up with an audacious plan: he would utilise Bounding’s scorching gate speed and go straight to the front, but rather than save ground along the inside, he opted to sit three- wide and race on the firmer going off the rail.
It was a daring tactic, especially considering the criticism he’d received from Riccarton, but that only made the move all the more endearing as it paid off in spades.
Bounding responded in kind, revelling in her work as she dashed clear in the straight and held off a late challenge from a luckless Waterford to score by a long neck.
For Du Plessis, the monkey was well and truly off his back.
“It feels like I’ve just got rid of King Kong,” he said afterwards.
Asked how hard he had taken the 1000 Guineas defeat, he said: “I haven’t got over it really, to be honest. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about the Group 1 she’s just won. She’s a special filly – that’s all I can say.”
Commentator George Simon described Du Plessis’s ride as “ballsy” but an emotional Du Plessis described the tactic as “crucial”.
“I said to the connections, ‘ If she jumps good, I’m putting her into the good stuff because she’s never raced on a cut up track and the inside isn’t good’. They were happy with that and it paid off in the end. She’s just shown her class today.”
While the riding tactics were a key factor in Bounding’s success, the Kelsos masterly preparation was the main ingredient.
The Matamata husband- andwife duo have stamped themselves as marquee trainers in recent seasons and their Railway Stakes success was further evidence of that.
No three- year- old filly had won the Railway since Gold Hope in 1981, but that didn’t faze the Kelsos in the least.
Typically, Ken Kelso chose to deflect any personal kudos the way of his horse.
“After what happened at Christchurch we decided we’d freshen
Railway Stakes at Ellerslie her and come to this than the Eight Carat it’s paid off,” he said.
“It was a big call to run her and all I can say is, ‘ Thank God, it’s over’. She’s got her Group 1 now, so we can sit back and plan things. I’m elated.”
Yesterday’s win was Bounding’s sixth win from nine starts, to go with three second placings – two at Group 1 level – and took her earnings past $ 366,000.
“She really deserved it after what happened at Christchurch. I suppose we’ve got to forgive Du Plessis now, don’t we?” he race rather Classic and
yesterday.
Photo: GETTY IMAGES quipped. “It’s just thoroughly deserved. Even as a two- year- old, she was Group 1- placed. In some ways she should probably have an even better record. She’s a special filly. She’ll keep improving, too.”
Kelso said his main concern leading into the race was whether Bounding would handle the rainaffected track conditions, but he was happy to back Du Plessis’ move to ride her off the fence.
“We discussed it before the race and he said, ‘ I’ve got to get off the fence – the fence is no good’. That’s how he planned to ride it,” Kelso said. Steve Scott lived a dream at Ellerslie yesterday.
From the grandstands where he had watched many a race growing up, Scott cheered as his emerging stayer Mosquito claimed the Group Two $ 100,000 Scot Thrust City Of Auckland Cup ( 2400m) under crack Sydney- based Waikato jockey James McDonald.
Soon afterwards, Scott was addressing the Ellerslie crowd from the victory dais looking back into those stands in disbelief.
“I visited Ellerslie regularly and sat in the stands and dreamed of such a day, so to actually experience it is amazing,” Scott said.
Scott races Golan five- year- old gelding Mosquito with Ashley Goodwin and Ruakaka trainer Donna Logan.
Logan, who trains the stayer in partnership with her ex- husband Dean, had earlier produced Rising Romance to win the Group Two $ 100,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Royal Stakes ( 2000m), so to complete the feature double capped a memorable day.
She said she had expected a big run from Mosquito but paid credit to McDonald, whose expertise in a close finish secured him two wins at Ellerslie yesterday.
In the closest finish of the day, Mosquito came from well back in the field to pip the Stephen McKee- trained Chaparrone to claim the staying feature.
It prompted McDonald to make comparisons with his 2012 Auckland Cup win aboard Shez Sinsational.
“It was a bit of a funny- run race, actually. They kept on going round and round and he darted up the inside,” McDonald said.
“He was travelling very good. It was a bit of a Shez Sinsationaltype Auckland Cup finish.
“He was getting there, getting there but then the inside horses were kicking. But he’s tough and he deserved that.
“He’s definitely
a
two- miler
in the making and he’ll be a nice horse for Brisbane Cup time. He’s a very good horse in the making.
“He settles well and he’s got a great long stride. They’ve done a very good job with placing him through the grades.”
Yesterday’s win was Mosquito’s fifth from 15 starts, but Logan was in no hurry to confirm a programme other than reveal the Group One $ 500,000 Auckland Cup ( 3200m) at Ellerslie in March was the long- term aim.
By winning yesterday, he became exempt from the ballots, as did Chaparrone and Storming The Tower, who finished a neck back in third after hitting the front at the top of the straight.
Favourite More Than Sacred was fourth ahead of Annie Higgins and Boninsky.
Rising Romance’s win evoked memories of last year’s Group One New Zealand Derby winner Habibi for Logan, as the Ekraar filly raced to her most important win in the Royal Stakes, a year on from Habibi’s win in the Championship Stakes at the corresponding meeting.
“It’s lovely to get another Ekraar filly to win a big race on this day. They don’t come along every day but she’s just doing the job,” Logan said.
“She’s a pretty smart filly and think she’s going places.”
Ridden closer to the pace yesterday by Matamata jockey Michael Coleman, Rising Romance racked up her third win from six starts as she comfortably held off the challenge of Sydney- bound filly Lucia Valentina to score by 1 ½ lengths.
Logan said Rising Romance would now follow the same path as Habibi, who went into the Group Two Avondale Guineas after a six- week break between races, then won the Derby at her next start before placing in the Group One Storm Queen Stakes and finishing fourth in the Group One Australian Oaks in Sydney.
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