McEvoy still seeing Red after Flight Stakes day
“I had a winner but – and even though I admit this sounds a bit spoilt – it felt like a losing day,” McEvoy said in reference to being beaten less than a length in each of the day’s three Group 1s and Redzel’s 2.1 lengths defeat in the Premiere Stakes.
“But I’m not worried about Redzel. He was a bit fresh and keen after the month’s break. He was out of his normal routine as he’d usually have a trial when a month between runs but that wasn’t the case this time. He was even a bit keen going to the barriers which is unlike him.
“Then it didn’t help when Invincible Star rushed up outside him so it was no shock when he tired in the last furlong. He hasn’t lost me as an admirer and I think there was an overreaction in the Everest market. He can bounce back, especially if we get a shower or two of rain before the Everest and apparently there is some rain forecast around that time,” said McEvoy.
McEvoy, who’s ridden 36 Group 1 winners since the 2010-11 season, is well and truly committed to Redzel and the October 13 The Everest which means he foregoes the Caulfield Guineas ride, the same day, on boom colt The Autumn Sun, as well as a likely Caulfield Stakes appointment with Unforgotten.
“The Autumn Sun’s owners have been very understanding and appreciate there’s not too many cheques like the one for The Everest. It’s a shame to miss out on riding him in the Guineas as there is something special about him. I have a good relationship with Ollie Koolman and I’d like to think I’d have a chance to get back on the horse,” said McEvoy.
McEvoy said Unforgotten’s third place, beaten 0.9 lengths, in the Group 1 Epsom was an excellent performance. “She was great. I had an option to go to the rail at the 1000 (metres) and, in hindsight, if I’d done that she’d have tracked D’Argento and I think she probably would have won. She made up a lot of ground in a fast run race,” he said.
His Flight Stakes mount Miss Fabulass was beaten just 0.3 lengths but finished fourth. “She can do a few things wrong and just wouldn’t drop her head for me. If they’d just gone a bit quicker and she’d settled a bit better, who knows? Her effort was huge,” he said.
Miss Fabulass, by Frankel, will now be spelled. “That was the race we’d always targeted and things didn’t work out for her, but I think with a bit more mental maturity leading into the autumn, I think we’ve got a very smart filly,” trainer Kris Lees told Sky Sports Radio.
The racing Gods again failed to smile on McEvoy in the Group 1 Metropolitan as his mount Brimham Rocks was gallant on speed after crossing from gate 15 only to be beaten a nose by stablemate Patrick Erin who’d had the cosier run.
McEvoy’s winner for the meeting was the Peter and Paul Snowden trained two-year-old filly Catch Me, who was impressive given she was caught wide in the Gimcrack Stakes.
Catch Me, by I Am Invincible from the O’Reilly mare Captivating Claire, was a $625,000 Inglis Easter yearling purchase by Yu Long Investments from Segenhoe Stud.
“She’s smart, “McEvoy said, “I was wide and was getting pushed wider on the corner but she still had the tenacity to kick on and she did it quite softly in the end. She is above average.”
Catch Me was the opening race winner on a day which was notable for exceptionally fast times. “It was more the wind which assisted the fast times. The track was firm but I’ve ridden on quicker surfaces,” said McEvoy.
Wind or no wind, Santa Ana Lane smashed the Randwick 1200 metres record by more than half a second in winning the Premiere Stakes – the race which is more likely than any other to produce The Everest winner.
The trick is that it might be any one of the first five to finish. Santa Ana Lane and In Her Time were excellent in running one-two but had all favours. Shoals was arguably the best run in the race while both Redzel and Trapeze Artist could very much be forgiven.
The 1600 metres track record was also comfortably bettered in the Epsom with Hartnell running the ‘mile’ in 1.32.7. This was after Arbeitsam ran the first 1000 metres in an absurdly quick 57.9. Arbeitsam’s effort to hold on and finish sixth, beaten 1.9 lengths, was herculean.
He’s a horse who tends to improve with racing and notwithstanding the risk that this effort might have flattened him, he’ll be carrying my money when he next appears. As will Redzel!