So often during the major meetings it is the big battalions, the biggest stables, that dominate the great races.
This carnival has been rather different. On Saturday it was the Adelaide yard of Andrew Gluyas that took out the Victoria Derby with Goldrush Guru.
On Tuesday the Melbourne Cup provided one of the biggest boilovers in its long history when Knight’s Choice, for the small Queensland based stable of John Symons and Sheila Laxon, wrote his name into the history books.
And while she was the favourite it was a similar story in the Crown Oaks on Thursday when Treasure the Moment provided the third group 1 winner in the career of Mornington trainer Matt Laurie.
The three year old filly ensured that her trainer and owners, not to mention rider Damian Lane, could do just that in the time honoured classic with an impressive performance.
She stayed every centimetre of the 2500 metre trip to defy the late finish of Powers of Opal, with Hurry Curry third and Harlem Queen fourth.
“I can’t really put it into words. I’m still shaking. It was a painless watch. It is a dream to win a Group 1 in this week,” said Laurie.
The filly, a daughter of the group 1 winning sprinter miler Alabama Express, brought her winning tally to five from seven starts, but more importantly, perhaps, she did so for Laurie in the dark green and white colours of the big spending Yulong Investments.
Out of a Street Cry mare, Treasure the Moment has shown progressive improvement with each start, particularly as the distances have increased, and she looks a terrific prospect for the autumn and beyond.
“It is 20 years of work really trying to achieve something like this. I’m just so grateful to my team at home and to Team Yulong. They have supported me. This is a home–bred. To watch her progress to win a Group 1 is incredible.”
”She just aids herself in the way she just goes to sleep in the run. She conserves all her energy. She lets down. It was very painless.”
”I didn’t really have too many questions about her at least reaching 2000 metres and she obviously answered that pretty heavily over the weekend” (when she won the Wakeful Stakes last Saturday).
A smiling Lane was enthusiastic post race. “She is a beauty, she has just kept improving this preparation. Matt said to me before I rode her last start he thought that she was a really good horse in the making. She has proved them right. She is a bloody ripper.
” I got a nice bit of speed where I could tuck in and travelled perfectly throughout the run.
”She probably didn’t switch off quite as well as she did on Saturday so that was a touch concerning. But as we got further into the race, she found a better rhythm and my confidence started to build from probably halfway on.
“She gave a really good kick and and sustained a good gallop, and I thought something’s going to have to be special to beat her, and I sensed one not too far away about the 150. I thought no, they’ d have to be really good to beat her from here, and to her credit, she just held a really good gallop.”
Declan Bates kept his cool when news broke that he had lost the ride on Pride of Jennie in Saturday’s Champion Stakes at Flemington at the request of owner Tony Ottobre.
The Irishman, who had been aboard the front running mare during her glorious run of group 1 success in the past 12 months, is being replaced by Ben Melham for the centre piece of Flemington’s Cup week finale.
Bates showed plenty of grace under pressure to issue a statement thanking the mare’s connections for the opportunities they had given him and wishing the new combination the best of luck.
But if anyone might have thought that Bates concentration or confidence had taken a knock as a result of that decision, they certainly weren’t watching the Irishman at Flemington on Oaks Day as he showed in the coolest manner possible that he wasn’t the one trick front running rider that some may have assumed due to the successes he has had on the tearaway Pride of Jennie.
Bates, riding the outsider Kettle Hill for Pride of Jennie’s trainer Ciaron Maher, weaved through the field from a position near the back of the pack to get up right on the line to defeat hot favourite Verdad in the Off The Track Plate.
It certainly wasn’t the feature event on the Oaks Day card but in front of a knowledgeable crowd it was the perfect way for the rider to show his credentials on the big stage once more.