3 minute read

The first thing jockey Michael Rodd did after jumping off Friday winner Dusseldorf was to thank his colleague Matthew Kellady for his selflessness in sharing pointers about the quirky galloper.

It is well-documented that the Canford Cliffs five-year-old is no straightforward conveyance, but Kellady finally unlocked his winning ability at his last start in a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1200m – at his 13th Kranji outing on September 21.

Loath to change a winning combination that has taken so long to stick, trainer Tan Kah Soon would have kept Kellady on for Friday’s $60,000 Class 4 Premier race over 1200m, but the Malaysian jockey was out for careless riding.

Rodd got the call-up, but the Australian modestly said he might not have pulled it off without a call from Kellady in the morning.

“He’s a tricky horse to ride. Matty won on him last time and was kind enough to call me this morning to give me the rundown on him, all thanks must go to Matty,” said Rodd, who with that win, edged to the top of the log on 59 winners, one win clear of Vlad Duric.

“He told me he was a horse you can’t whip and you have to keep him away from other horses.

“When he jumped, I also had to take a hold of him, and just let him relax. The tempo was perfect and he was flying in the end.

“He’s more of a Class 3 horse. He’s raced in better company before.”

Tan is fully aware of the More Stable galloper’s credentials, but because of the headache he gives in trackwork and in his races, and now that he has found the key to him, he would rather not cut corners.

“Matty was supposed to ride him but he is suspended, and Michael gave him a textbook ride. That’s the way to ride him and we’re not going to change a winning formula,” said Tan.

“Like last time, the 1200m takes him into the race, and he’s got to finish right on the outside. You could tell he wasn’t blowing after the race and could go another lap.

“This is a horse who ran second in a Group 2 race over 1800m in Australia (at Caulfield when ridden by a certain Joao Moreira), but he’s been tried over all sorts of distances here and for now, the 1200m seems to work for him.

“We’ll see whether we step him back up again.”

Whether he is stretched over further in his future endeavours, it is clearly his superior stamina that put him in good stead for his last two wins at Kranji.

Unsighted in the early stages of the race where Super Denman (Glen Boss) flew the lids to set a cracking pace to the race, Dusseldorf only came into prominence when Rodd got a wriggle on from the 500m.

In one fell swoop, Dusseldorf (5/1) rounded up the horses in front of him to go and win under hands-and-heels riding, scoring with two lengths to spare from Across The Sea (Olivier Placais) with Lim’s Force (Troy See) third another half-a-length away.

The winning time was 1min 12.14secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.