The big query around Ballarat Cup day was the weather, with the track improving back into the good range on race morning before a deluge struck, downgrading the surface to a soft 7. Jockeys were keen to get as far away from the inside fence as possible the later the day went on.
Hypothetical landed some good bets in Race 1, making it four wins from six starts, leading all the way and doing enough late to repel the chasers as a short priced favourite.
Shuriken ran well at 50-1 at Flemington last start and backed up that performance with a strong win in Race 2 over some better credentialed three-year-olds.
He gave Symon Wilde the race quinella as Street Delight ran second and Wilde was thrilled with the result.
“We thought it was a lovely race for both of them and with the rain coming that probably went in their favour a little bit… We thought they would run well and they did,” Wilde said.
All About Eve continued the punters’ good form in Race 4 as the Andrew Noblet trained mare was backed heavily into second pick at $5.50 and came clear to notch up back-to-back wins at Ballarat this preparation.
The theme of horses swooping down the middle continued later in the card with Fifth Position one of the wins of the day in Race 6, a Bm84 over 2000m. The import had struggled to win and still wanted to do a bit wrong in the straight but launched late as the widest runner to beat Parisian Dancer, giving Daniel Moor his second win on the day having won in a similar swooping fashion aboard Sunsource in the 2yo Classic.
He is tricky. The GOAT (Damien Oliver) generally rides him and it’s hard to replicate a GOAT ride… The main thing was we were able to get to the best part of the track without doing any work and he was good late,” Moor said of Fifth Position.
Later in the day, Mitch Beer and Teo Nugent teamed up with Mnementh to win the Bm100 Tonks Plate. Teo has now ridden for Beer 32 times and won 5, recording a $2.89 ROI which will improve sharply again after today’s win.
Due to technical issues, the race was run without a caller for patrons on track, Beer not realising the horses had jumped.
“I looked up and they had gone halfway and I thought I was imagining it, especially the finish. Who needs sound when you get the cash. It’s just terrific.”This horse has been so good to us. I think I’ve told the owners seven times that he’s reached his benchmark and we’d be flat winning another one, but he keeps stepping up to the plate,” Beer said.
The last race on the card provided a thrilling conclusion to Ballarat Cup day as Green Fly, a northern hemisphere three-year-old colt by Frankel flew down the outside fence to deny the heavily backed favourite Detonator Jack, reversing the 2.2 length margin from his first Australian run at Flemington.
Ben Melham had plenty of ground to make up late as Detonator Jack burst through nearer the inside but caught the promising topweight in the shadows of the post to book end the card for both the Freedman stable and Melham.
Part-owner and OTI racing representative Terry Henderson suggested there was plenty more to come from the French import once he got out in trip.
“Anthony and Sam have done remarkably good job to get this horse up so well and certainly to win over 1400 metres, which I thought was going to be short of his best,” Henderson said.
“We were a little confident, without being cocky.”
