Headley Grange Falls to 10th
Veteran jockey Nash Rawiller was at his brave and bold best as he won the battle for the gap to give Gringotts back-to-back victories in the $3 million Big Dance, helping land a trifecta for the Ciaron Maher stable.
With many of Sydney’s top jockeys engaged at Flemington, the 50-year-old held court at Royal Randwick on Tuesday, riding a winning treble capped by a barnstorming victory in the feature.
Rawiller, taking over on Gringotts from Tommy Berry when second at the start prior in the $1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes, positioned the 62-kilogram topweight just behind the lead bunch.
Gringotts and second favourite Headley Grange ($5), with Adam Hyeronimus aboard, went for the same gap at the 200m mark, and Rawiller’s mount showed strength to bump him off and surge through on the way to a 1¼-length win to Vivy Air, which finished well down the outside.
It was a repeat of last year’s top-two finish, and this year another stable-mate, Lugh, led and held on for third to make it a trifecta. Rawiller praised the strength of Gringotts to take the run when it mattered.
“I don’t think I beat him to it; he saw me coming and tried to do his best to hold his line,” said Rawiller, who produced a similar ride to win on Carbonados earlier in the day.
“To my bloke’s credit, with the big weight, he was full of running then. I was mindful of how I rode him the other day, containing energy the whole way, and he can be quite explosive, and he was. Well done to the team, it has obviously been a plan for some time.”
The plan, though, had changed for Gringotts, which was twice scratched because of poor bloodwork after resuming with fifth in the group 1 Winx Stakes on August 23. Gringotts missed the 7 Stakes and main target, the King Charles III Stakes, but Maher’s NSW-based assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord said the Big Dance was always a back-up option.
“He had a temp for one day,” he said. “Even though the bloods were bad, the horse was fine and he never really missed any work, so when it was a big gap between runs last start, we knew he would improve.”
He was unsure if Gringotts would race on this preparation, but said Vivy Air and Lugh could back up in the $2 million Five Diamonds at Rosehill on Saturday.
Hyeronimus was suspended for careless riding on Headley Grange, which shifted out onto other horses. Vivy Air’s rider, Andrew Adkins, was suspended for shifting in on Hot Bandit.
The pain for Hyeronimus was eased later in the $300,000 Choisir Handicap (1100m) when he weaved a path for Estadio Mestalla to nose out Joe Pride-trained stablemate Accredited. Pride said the pair, as well as Coal Crusher and Golden Mile, would be set for the $1 million The Hunter on November 15 at Newcastle.
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