“It is a tricky one,” Duckworth said post-race of a potential rematch with Via Sistina around the tight-turning Moonee Valley course. “We won’t worry about that today. We’ll just enjoy the win and enjoy the placings.”
Someone who enjoyed the moment was former AFL chief Gillon McLachlan who presented the winner’s trophy as part of his new gig. The TAB were major sponsors of the Turnbull Stakes.
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The day did not end well for Lane, who was suspended for 10 meetings for careless riding in an earlier race and with the penalty to start on Monday week, he will miss the Caulfield Cup. Craig Newitt will start an eight-race suspension on Monday.
Waterhouse shines bright
Gai Waterhouse won the golden ticket, but you would swear she had won the Oscar.
She waltzed down the steps of Flemington’s grandstand with a beaming smile and a thumb in the air.
Her front-running stayer Just Fine had just won the group 3 2500m Bart Cummings, which guarantees the seven-year-old gelding a golden ticket start in next month’s Melbourne Cup – a race that Waterhouse has won once with Fiorente in 2013.
Waterhouse brightened a gloomy day. Before she made it to the bottom of the steps, she had time to compliment a woman in the crowd on her white socks and Doc Marten shoes.
Then as she sat trackside for the TV cameras, she took the time to reapply her lipstick before flipping closed her pocket mirror and planting a kiss on broadcaster Jason Richardson’s cheek.
On Just Fine’s win, she said: “I can’t tell you what a kick I got out of that.
“He’s a lovely horse. He looks so good. His tail, his coat, everything about him. I knew once he got into the rhythm they just wouldn’t catch him.”
It was a typical catch-me-if-you-can Waterhouse run. Just Fine and jockey Jordan Childs stretched to a four-length lead at the 300m mark of the Bart Cummings before the challengers emerged from the pack.
Gai Waterhouse.Credit: Getty Images
Childs timed his run to perfection. They were able to hold off the fast finishing Point King, which has already qualified for the Melbourne Cup, and veteran Amade by a head.
The race was not without its dramas. The start was pushed back 35 minutes and the horses returned to their stalls while a lightning storm swept across Melbourne. But the dark clouds could not dampen Waterhouse’s enthusiasm.
She said Just Fine’s ownership group were “going to have a lot of fun running in our biggest race”.
Waterhouse would have again been smiling after the Turnbull Stakes. She didn’t win, but her third-placed Eliyass stamped itself as a genuine Cups contender.