Winning Horse: Smokin’ Romans (Nz)
Winning Trainer: Ciaron Maher and David Eustace (Maher speaking)
On going from a Pakenham Cup win to Turnbull Stakes win in 10 months: “He’s been a real product of the system, I suppose. Late last prep we sent him down to the beach as he was always very quirky just to get him used to going on and off the float all the time. He’d lose it and lose a lot of weight just stressing. It desensitised him and he’s carrying a lot more condition. He’s shown he’s in good form the whole way and even when Ethan jumped on he said he’ll run a race today.
Ethan does a lot for us. He’s great. The team down at Fingal, this horse lives down there, and all the crew do a fantastic job.
“Brownie, he was confident, and the horse is going great. I think he drops to 51.5kg for the Caulfield Cup which seems pretty nice.
“The guys at White Road Lodge that bred him, I have a bit to with him, Wayne and the crew. I’ve had a few horses off them and they’re great people to deal with and it’s great for them to win a Group 1 as well.”
Plan B for jockey in Caulfield Cup: “I think Jamie Kah will ride him. He’s got the light weight and there’s only a few and I’d say she’d be pretty happy to get on after today.”
Winning Jockey: Ethan Brown
On the win: “That run has really brought him on. He is just so easy this horse, he’s very tractable in the run. He gave me a lovely ride throughout. He’s taken a lot of improvement from last start. I thought he was a bit overlooked today and he has defied his odds to win.”
On salute over the line: “Unreal. I didn’t really know what to do over the line. The feeling is indescribable. Just unreal. The fact that it was for Ciaron and Dave makes it that much more special”
Beaten Jockeys:
Jordan Childs (Knights Order): “Super. He bowled long out in front, he was really tough to the line, so he’s going well.”
Josh Parr (Duais): “I pleased with her. Her action was great, she’s pulled up really well in the wind but just really looking for the 2400 now.”
Craig Williams (Profondo): “He walked out of the gates and ended up getting into a marvelous position. I had a little bit of a management discussions with him about getting him to go left-handed, but having the horse outside of him he was able to get that right. He over-raced on a couple of occasions but he stayed on strongly without having a change-up speed.”
Brett Prebble (Great House): “He just can’t draw a barrier at the moment. He’s always got to go back and be dictated to by the pace of the race, but the horse is going super.”
Patrick Moloney (Milford): “He battled away. He’s half a run short and he didn’t get in well at the weights, but back in his right grade I think he’s going OK for that.”
Jye McNeil (Inspirational Girl): “The race didn’t open up today. She ran fantastic, but couldn’t get a crack at them.”
Daniel Stackhouse (Chapada): “He ran OK.”
Damian Lane (Young Werther): “Good run.”
Jamie Kah (Gold Trip): “Super run, we just had no luck. He’s got through the ground well though and he’s run out of his skin.”
Michael Dee (Crystal Pegasus): “I feel like they just backed off too much for him too much in the middle stages and he got pretty keen in amongst them. I still thought we were going pretty well coming into the straight, but he’d just done too much the first half to finish off.”
Harry Coffey (Luncies): “Nice for something over a bit further.”
Ben Melham (Maximal): “He ran really well. A good, honest run. Much better back on firm ground.”
Blake Shinn (Surefire): “He was disappointing.”
Daniel Moor (Hezashocka): “The barrier made it difficult but he may not be up to this level.”
