The Deane Lester Flemington Cup (2800m) may not have the big reputation of the Australian Cup, Melbourne Cup, and other top Group One races. However, it is still a major race in the Australian racing calendar that punters look forward to every year.
On Saturday, 11 horses aged three-year-old and upwards raced for the prestigious $150,000 race. Seven-year-old gelding Hit The Road Jack outclassed them all, winning the race by a length.
Despite coming into the Flemington Cup off an impressive win at the Western District Agricentre Mdn Hrdl (3200m) at Warrnambool in early July, Hit The Road Jack entered the Flemington Cup as one of the underdogs at $9 odds behind big favourites Speycaster ($3.00) and Taramansour ($3.50).
Hit The Road Jack won the race easily. He cruised to victory down the stretch, battling off Taramansour and stablemate Dashing Duchess ($23.00).
While the result was impressive for Hit The Road Jack, the fact that Dashing Duchess finished second might be even more impressive.
Hit The Road Jack finishing first and Dashing Duchess’ runner-up finish, meant that trainer Symon Wilde won an unexpected quinella on Saturday.
Besides Hit The Road Jack and Symon Wilde, jockey Michael Dee was another big winner from the Deane Lester Flemington Cup.
Jockey Blaike Mcdougall was set to ride Hit The Road Jack in Saturday’s $150,000 race before the global CrowdStrike IT outage threw a wrench in his travel plans.
The outage caused Mcdougall to be stranded in Mildura, where he was waiting to take an early-morning flight for the Flemington race.
Dee was brought in to deputise for Mcdougall. The 28-year-old Kiwi received a last minute call from Wilde before the race.
“I didn't actually have his number saved and I had to ask who it was again,” Dee revealed after the race on Saturday.
“He said it was Symon Wilde and you've picked up a ride for me. I had a mate in the car, and he said it was a good ride and definitely worth picking up.”
Dee also revealed that he was impressed by what he saw from Hit The Road Jack and knew he could be in for a strong race.
“He's a great old campaigner. He's been around the traps all around New Zealand,” Dee said.
“I quickly watch a replay of when he won in New Zealand, and he would often take off midrace and keep going.
“Today the only key was to keep him one off the fence in a position where we could work into it
“He made easy work of it, although at the 200 metres, he thought his work was done and was almost waiting for them a little bit, so it was a great effort.”
The Flemington Cup win was the 50th metropolitan winner for the season.
While Hit The Road Jack sprinted to victory on Saturday, favourites Speycaster ($3.00) and Taramansour ($3.50) disappointed in the 2800m showcase.
Chris Waller’s Speycaster finished 5th, while Banjo Paterson Series Final runner up Taramansour ended the race in third.
Port Guillaume, who was listed in many horse racing tips pieces as one of the biggest dark horses entering the race, could not overcome the odds and finished in sixth.
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