Pike masterclass in William Reid earns first Group 1 success for Masked Crusader and Toronado
A tremendous performance from horse and jockey in last night’s William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Moonee Valley provided Swettenham Stud shuttler Toronado (High Chaparral) with his first elite-level winner.
The Team Hawkes-trained Masked Crusader (4 g Toronado – She’s Got Gears by Invincible Spirit) found himself three-back on the rail rounding the turn after a sluggish start from barrier two, but a remarkable maneuver from William Pike saw the four-year-old blast through the narrowest of gaps between Pippie (Written Tycoon) and Portland Sky (Deep Field) with 150 metres to run.
Showing a lightning turn of foot, Masked Crusader was gone in a flash and scooted clear to score by two and a half lengths from Portland Sky, with favourite Libertini (I Am Invincible) a long neck further behind in third.
“You need everything to go right and three-back, on the fence, running hard, it was just perfect,” said Wayne Hawkes, who paid tribute to Western Australian-based Pike. “I still can’t believe he got that needle-eye gap. He’s not going home, William Pike, sorry Mr Peters, he’s not going home!”
A $340,000 purchase from the Gilgai Farm draft at the 2018 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, Masked Crusader is out of the stakes-winning Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) mare She’s Got Gears, who visited Toronado for the second time last year.
Since retiring from his 12-race career in 2015, dual Group 1 winner Toronado has been shuttling between Haras de Bouquetot in France and the Victorian-based Swettenham Stud, where he covered 210 mares last year at a fee of $27,500.
Racing in the colours of Rupert Legh, Masked Crusader, who ran a luckless third in the Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m) at Randwick a fortnight ago under Tommy Berry, is from the first crop of Toronado and Hawkes was delighted the gelding was able to improve on his Canterbury run and provide Toronado with his first Group 1 winner.
“He was unlucky the other day in Sydney. He flew home and, to be fair, Tommy came in and said ‘he should’ve won’, which we all know,” said Hawkes. “It was the right move to bring him down from Sydney and get the Group 1.
“It’s a great thing for Toronado too. He’s a Victorian stallion and I’m a proud Victorian and it’s good for a Victorian horse that was bought out of Inglis in Melbourne to get the job done.
“They (owners) bought him as a potential stallion, but they gelded him quickly, so they deserve what they get.”
After flying in from WA, yesterday was the first time Pike had sat on Masked Crusader, whose other Group success in his ten-race career came in the Southern Cross Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) first-up last month.
Pike explained his thought process as he rounded the turn three-back aboard Masked Crusader.
“At that stage I’d given up on pushing out and making a real clever move,” he said. “I had to sit there and hope, pray, and wait. I had plenty of luck on the night but I suppose that was the only way we could win with the way it unfolded.
“I definitely didn’t expect that brilliant turn of foot. It’s really what won us the race. When I said go, he went. He didn’t care about taking a tight run, he said ‘yep, bring it on’. He let down so fast that I was in and out before they knew I was there.”
Oh his association with Team Hawkes, Pike added: “I don’t know how it started but I’m just glad that it did. I can’t thank them enough. They’ve been great supporters while I’ve been here and have put me on at every opportunity they could.
“I flew in today, the first time I’ve sat on the horse, so all credit goes to the Hawkes team. They’ve prepared him and I get to stand here smiling.”
Masked Crusader is the best of four to race out of She’s Got Gears, who is also the dam of Listed-placed Outlaw Kate (Exceed And Excel) in New Zealand.
She’s Got Gears has an unraced two-year-old colt named Insurgence (Sebring), who was bought for $825,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to the Newgate Farm/Stonestreet/China Horse Club syndicate.
Toronado is the sire of ten stakes winners, with Affair To Remember and Still A Star his other two to win at Group level in Australia, while last year’s July Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) winner Tactical is his best performer in the northern hemisphere.