3 minute read
It’s a case of fourth time lucky for connections of Detonator Jack and it was the blinkers that proved the edge he needed to finally snare a big prize in NSW with a runaway win in the $1 million Illawarra Mercury Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange.
The five-year-old was tackling his fourth consecutive race worth $1 million or more but he was a different horse in the shades as he exploded away under jockey Jason Collett.
Co-trainer Ciaron Maher said it was a deserved win after placings in the $1m Five Diamonds Prelude and $2m Five Diamonds and gave Collett all the credit for learning about the horse in his past few starts and producing a pitch perfect ride.
"He's always threatened to win a big one this horse. He's been close his last couple and he's had a fantastic prep,'' Maher said.
"He's been in really good form, the team have done a super job.
"He was just hitting that little flat spot last start and when we were coming back in trip we thought it was the ideal time to put (blinkers) on.
"You could see during the run he just travelled sweet for Jase. Beautiful ride. He knew the horse pretty well and he got the job done, it was a pretty easy watch."
Collett said the race couldn't have worked out any better for him when Loch Eagle went around him early to give him cover up the back straight.
From there he was always confident he was on the right horse and Detonator Jack ($4.60) put the race away quickly recording a 2-1/4 length win over Loch Eagle ($5.50), who was gallant after doing all the work three deep, with favourite Osipenko ($4) a close third.
"I just had a lovely spot, Loch Eagle dragged me into it lovely,'' Collett said.
"When I exposed him he was on today, the blinkers definitely helped. When I needed him to be there he was there, probably added to it the soft ground.
"It's a long straight, I got run down earlier and I thought 'I'm here a long way out' but he's a powerful horse and he had enough in the tank."
Maher indicated consideration would be given to staying in Sydney to run in the Group 2 $2 million The Ingham (1600m) at Randwick on December 9 but there are options for him.
Meanwhile, Zac Lloyd made it back-to-back wins in the $300,000 The Warra guiding his favourite horse Insurrection to an all the way victory in the feature sprint.
Insurrection is the horse that helped Lloyd secure the Sydney Apprentice Title in 2022/23 and he's now four from four on the horse.
Lloyd won the Warra for Godolphin a year ago on Athelric and he ensured he owned the race on the Michael Freedman-trained gelding from the start, assuming control and running his rivals into the ground.
"He just tries so hard, I never felt like getting beat," Lloyd said.
"Normally he doesn't travel that nicely from the 800m-400m, normally he's really relaxed then builds up the straight. But the speed he was doing so comfortably, he was just ahead of the game."
