Lankan Rupee showed he was back, bigger and quicker than ever and primed for an assault on the major autumn sprint prizes with a dominant performance in the group 1 Black Caviar Lightning at Flemington on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Mick Price-trained gelding well-and-truly burst the Deep Field bubble, seeing off the hitherto unbeaten four-year-old with ease as he ran out a two-and-three-quarter length winner of the 1000-metre dash down the Flemington straight.
Second home was the high-quality three-year-old Brazen Beau, who had scored at group 1 level against his own age in the spring, with Deep Field third.
Lankan Rupee had worked well at Caulfield last Saturday and Price has brought him back for his autumn campaign in tremendous condition. He will now be aimed at the Newmarket Handicap – for which he is likely to be asked to carry 58.5 kilograms – and then taken to Sydney for the TJ Smith Stakes, both races he won in a triumphal autumn sweep last year that also included a win in the group 1 Oakleigh Plate.
That was enough to see him win the title of Australian Horse of the Year in 2013-14 and earn him a ranking as the world's top sprinter – a title he could well retain if he continues in this vein during the rest of the year.
Bookmaker Sportsbet reacted immediately by cutting Lankan Rupee's odds for the Newmarket from $6.50 to $3.75 and easing favourite Chautauqua, a stablemate of Deep Field, from $3.20 to $3.50. Brazen Beau was trimmed by the same firm from $8 to $5.50, with Deep Field blowing out from $6 to $11. Terravista, who beat Lankan Rupee in the Darley Classic down the straight in the spring, was left at $6.
Earlier in the day Caulfield trainer Peter Moody brought off a near 27,000-1 treble in the first three races when he sent out Pasadena Girl ($61), Sir John Hawkwood ($26) and Sweet And Speedy ($17) to score under three different jockeys – Vlad Duric, Ben Melham and Craig Newitt, who replaced the indisposed Luke Nolen, who felt ill after riding earlier in the day.
And tough front-running Gai Waterhouse-trained colt Wandjina, partnered by Damien Oliver, put himself right in Australian Guineas contention with an all-the-way win in the CS Hayes Stakes, earning himself a quote of $9 (from $21) for the group 1 contest on March 7 at Flemington.
