The extremely delighted winning owner thought Spankem was a sure thing, I told her the last 100 metres would be telling. It was. Amazing Dream's first crack at open class horses was the NZ FFA, where she stayed pocketed three back the pegs and never saw daylight. She ended up in the same position yesterday but was always going to get out over the two-mile trip. Once she torched past Copy That it was a slug-fest to the line and her huge heart got her the win.
Three individual Cup winners from three individual starters in the past four cups is a great story in itself. All were her own yearling sale selections. Would that not be a great promotion for the breeding industry both sides of the Tasman?
Spankem was, again, outstanding in defeat and Copy That is top class, if fallible. Read any story about the Cup on the Lincoln Farm's website and you get the impression Copy That's connections are not the most gracious group in defeat. Four days out from the Cup trainer Ray Green was inferring Amazing Dream, who had never had a standing start race, was likely to interfere with his horse. As it was she, Copy That and Spankem all led the charge for the lead. Copy That began to pull and for a while appeared to take control of its driver McKendry. After entering the home straight McKendry is said to have positioned the horse behind Spankem supposedly to use the sprint lane. To me, it appeared to hang in as it had halfway up the straight its previous start.
Once Copy That ducked in Amazing Dream ran past him. That is what my recently Specsavers tested eyes told me.
Go back three starts to the Franklin Cup and watch Copy That coming off the back straight with about 1500 metres to run. He mixed his gait and momentarily appears to gallop behind. These are only small observations but he is not the model racehorse, yet, that his connections and page sections of the media paint him to be. It's these little moments that cost you Group One wins.
Amazing Dream? I have always raved about her and she again justified my high opinion. 27 starts, 17 wins (7 Group Ones plus 2 Sales Series finals), 8 placings and $850k in stakes already. She will be eventually sold as a broodmare. What is she worth?
It was a great race to watch, make sure you watch the replay if you didn't see it.