Mark Kavanagh was left wide-eyed as his five-year-old Street Cry entire flew down the outside to win the $400,000 Makybe Diva Stakes (G2) at weight-for-age. It was Shocking’s fourth run at the famous track and his fourth win there.
Shocking started 17-1 in a high-quality field that included a host of G1 winners including Danleigh (4-1 favourite) from the Chris Waller yard. Last year’s winner, Vigor, was next on offer at 9-2, with Heart Of Dreams at 13-2.
It was 100-1 shot Sterling Prince who set the pace as the large field strung out, with 12 lengths covering first to last. Vigor raced second with Heart Of Dreams in sixth, Danleigh wide in midfield, and Shocking just worse than midfield and some seven lengths off the call.
Vigor (James Winks) cruised past Sterling Prince with 400m to run and only Heart Of Dreams (Damien Oliver) looked set to make a race of it after giving chase.
Heart Of Dreams drew alongside Vigor with 200m to run but by now the commentator had spotted Shocking (Michael Rodd), who was making up ground hand-over-fist down the outside.
In a blistering blur of speed, Shocking sailed past Heart Of Dreams inside the final 50m to score by 0.50 lengths. Vigor finished 1.25 lengths further back in third with Danleigh plugging away to finish fourth of 16 starters.
"That was amazing," said Kavanagh. "He’s going better than last year but I thought it was a bit of an ask second up over a mile.
"He was just messing around last year but he’s really matured now."
Kavanagh said he’d probably restrict Shocking to races at Flemington in preparation for the Melbourne Cup, where the horse will carry 57kg – 6kg more than in 2009.
Another impressive winner at Flemington was the David Hayes-trained Largo Lad (12-1) who came from the tail of the field to win the 1400m fourth race after a 35-week layoff. Watch out for this Encosta De Lago gelding in the spring features.
The G2 Danehill Stakes over 1200m was won in impressive fashion by Sheikh Mohammed’s three-year-old gelding Soul (5-2 favourite). Jockey Mark Zahra geed him up late to get the measure of 7-2 chance Buffering (Danny Nikolic) by 0.75 lengths.
In Sydney, it was a great day for trainer Gai Waterhouse, who led in three winners at her home track of Randwick.
Waterhouse landed both G2 events on offer. Her seven-year-old Danewin gelding, Theseo (2-1 favourite) raced from the front under jockey Nash Rawiller and held off strong challenger Metal Bender (Hugh Bowman) by a length in the Chelmsford Stakes over 1600m.
Waterhouse and Rawiller pinched the Furious Stakes (1400m) when front-running More Strawberries (3-1) set a moderate tempo and then kicked away just enough to hold at bay the Peter Snowden-trained pair of Divorces (13-1) and Parables (evens, favourite).
The Waterhouse stable also landed the 1200m second race with 2-1 favourite, Kiss From A Rose (Nash Rawiller again).
Former SA trainer, David Payne, had a second place and two thirds.
In the final race, a sprint over 1100m, recent stable acquisition Cardinal Virtue (Blake Shinn up) produced another good effort. Second in his debut for the yard last month, the five-year-old Elusive Quality entire, 17-2, this time got caught behind a wall of horses in the straight but finished off strongly to be only 0.75 lengths behind winner Bay Window (Corey Brown, 5-1). This third-place effort was full of merit and this one should score next time.
In the 1400m seventh race for three-year-olds, Payne’s runner-up, Praecido (5-1) also run into difficulties (at the 350m mark) before finishing a 0.50-length second to New Zealand raider, Lion Tamer (Hugh Bowman, 16-1).
In the opener, Payne’s Buccaneer’s Prize (3-1, Blake Shinn) finished third in a 2400m staying event on a slow track that later became heavy.
Nash Rawiller’s hat-trick on Saturday took him to nine winners and knocked former SA jockey Glyn Schofield (eight winners) off the top of the Sydney jockeys’ table.
Schofield’s 15-year-old son, Chad, who recently started his career as an apprentice jockey, is currently on a drip after contracting a bone infection, osteomyelitis.
"He should be right to go soon," said Schofield snr.