Vow And Declare takes out Melbourne Cup for Australia

Listen

Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Vow And Declare, by American-bred stallion Declaration Of War (War Front) who twice won on turf at the highest level in Europe, has delivered for Australia with a locally bred and trained victory in the country’s biggest race.

The former Coolmore stallion Declaration Of War, now domiciled in Japan, certainly left his mark during his two-year stint Down Under, not least of which allows Australia to lay claim to breeding the winner of the $8 million cup for just the second time in a decade.

In a thrilling four-way finish, the Danny O’Brien-trained Vow And Declare ($11), who had raced near the speed throughout, fought back under Craig Williams on the line to score by a head.

Master Of Reality (Frankel) was second past the post but relegated to fourth on protest, elevating Prince Of Arran (Shirocco) ($17) to runner-up with Il Paradiso (Galileo) ($15) another nose back.

Vow And Declare ran 3:24.76 seconds in the cup on ground rated a Soft 5, more than eight seconds outside Kingston Rule’s (Secretariat) 3:16.3 track record set in 1990.

O’Brien said Williams had pulled off a tactical masterstroke on Vow And Declare, who was runner-up to Japan’s Mer De Glace (Rulership) in the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m).

“He’d been in front past the winning post the first time and, particularly for a horse that normally settles midfield or back, it was a different position for him to be in,” O’Brien said.

“Ultimately, it’s been the winning move, I don’t think he would’ve won if he’d gone back.

“I thought it was an incredibly brave thing for him to do, to roll to the post the first time.

“My feelings inside the last 100 metres were that he was going to run a nice third or fourth, which would be a bit disappointing.

“The horse is a courageous horse he’s got great stamina and I’m sure he was headed but he just found some more to get his head out on the line.

“He’s definitely got a great motor. His recovery and his lactates are the best that we’ve seen and to get full advantage of that you probably need to run 3200m and we were able to do that today.

“We got a bit out-sprinted in the Caulfield Cup, but the stamina won us the race today.”

Williams had not been pinned down with a pre-race plan.

“I went out there with a clean mind, an open book and I was confident in the horse,” Williams said.

“He was so happy and rolling along. I was happy to take up the lead and then I was happy to take a sit.

“I had the horse to deliver and he was awesome.”

The Australian-bred and trained element of the cup win was also not lost Williams, who had avenged his disappointment of missing out on the ride on 2011 winner Dunaden (Nicobar) due to suspension.

“To be lucky enough to be associated with an Australian-bred horse as the race is now so international, it’s wow,” he said.

“It is very special to be able to win our greatest race. It just resonates with everyone. It stops the nation. It’s very special so I’m very thrilled.”

Vow And Declare, who won the Connoisseur Stakes (Listed, 1800m) at the Flemington carnival last year, underlined his staying potential when winning the Tattersall’s Cup (Gr 3, 3000m) at Eagle Farm in June. The victory had come after finishing runner-up to Mr Quickie (Shamus Award) in the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m).

Surprise Baby (Shocking) rattled home from back in the field to finish fifth while the Chris Waller-trained Finche (Frankel), who started the $8.50 favourite, ran seventh, just one and a half lengths behind the winner.

Waller said Vow And Declare’s victory was ‘a big win for Australia’.

“It’s great to see for Australia, I think. From my perspective, as a trainer in Australia, you question whether we’ve still got what it takes to win it and we bloody have. I’d rather be buying them here,” Waller said.

“I think bloodlines are important and I’m sure people will delve into this horse’s bloodlines (and) there will be some good staying blood there.

“Well done to Danny (O’Brien) and the team. It was a great race.

“That horse went to Queensland and that will give Queensland a boost as we follow trends.”

The 2019 edition was also a story of resilience for O’Brien whose career almost appeared over earlier this decade as he and 2009 Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Mark Kavanagh became the faces of the cobalt saga.

Following a long legal battle, the pair were eventually exonerated in November 2017.

Incidentally, the Kavanagh-trained Shocking (Street Cry) was the last Australian-bred winner of the cup in 2009, with 2015 victor Prince Of Penzance (Pentire) bred in New Zealand.

“Everyone in the racing game long enough has their ups and downs,” O’Brien said.

“The main thing is you just keep persisting, keep working and sometimes you have a bit of luck.

“Ultimately, I was very confident that once it (cobalt case) got outside the racing jurisdiction, that we’d be found completely innocent.”

O’Brien has now trained the winner of the Caulfield Cup (Master O’Reilly), the Cox Plate  with Shamus Award (Snitzel) and the Melbourne Cup.

“Someone told me yesterday there has been no trainer win the three of them in the last 15 years and the last guy was Bart Cummings so it’s pretty special to have won all three of them,” he said.

Lanskey glad he kept Classic graduate

Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War – Geblitzt by Testa Rossa) was bred by Paul Lanskey who passed the horse in for $45,000 (reserve $60,000) at the 2017 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale after being consigned by Kitchwin Hills.

The Melbourne Cup win saw his prize-money earnings skyrocket to $5,722,690 with his fourth victory and five placings from 13 starts.

Vow And Declare is a half-brother to Listed-winning stablemate Lycurgus (Star Witness), who won the Galilee Series Final (Listed, 2400m), while he has a yearling half-sister by Star Witness (Starcraft) who will be offered by Widden Stud at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

He also has a half-sister by Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) who was born on September 19, while Geblitzt has since been covered by Coolmore’s US Triple Crown-winning shuttler American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile).

“Her first foal was a Star Witness who raced as Lycurgus. We expected we were breeding a sprinter but Danny (O’Brien) sent the blood samples to Ireland and they came back as a 2400-metre horse,” Lanskey said.

“In conjunction with Sheamus Mills, I then organised for the mare to go to Declaration Of War and when those blood tests came back they were saying 2800 metres-plus. So, we trained this bloke as a stayer, he debuted over 1600 metres but Danny said we wouldn’t see the best of him until he got to 2000 metres and further … and the rest is history.”

Lanskey said the early ability displayed by Lycurgus prompted him to retain Vow And Declare to race after he was passed at the Classic sale.

“Geoff Corrigan, the senior owner of Lycurgus, came in for 35 per cent then another 15 per cent and the rest is really family, my sons, nephews, my partners,” he said. 

“It’s amazing. You can’t explain this feeling. It’s phenomenal.”

Geblitzt, who won five races up to 1400 metres, is a three-quarter sister to the stakes winner Deledio (Testa Rossa) and a half-sister to the stakes-placed Madibagold (Johannesburg) and Sudden Wealth (Time Thief). Vow And Declare’s second dam is Aim For Gold (End Sweep) who was runner-up in the AJC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) as a two-year-old.

Malone celebrates Kitchwin’s cup win

For Kitchwin Hills’ Mick Malone, the Melbourne Cup win capped a big spring for the Hunter Valley operation’s graduates after Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) won the $14 million The Everest (1200m) last month.

Malone, whose Kitchwin Hills team was celebrating the cup victory yesterday, praised bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills for devising the mating that produced Vow And Declare.

“It has been amazing afternoon. I wouldn’t think we will have a Melbourne Cup winner off our place again because it is not like we breed for it,” Malone told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“After he went through the ring, Paul syndicated him with a few family and friends. He had great belief in the pedigree and, quite frankly, I am not beating my chest about the mating.

“It is not something I probably would have done, but between Paul and Sheamus, full credit to them.”

Malone also revealed that Shannon Betts, who broke in Vow And Declare at Emeran Park on the NSW Central Coast ,had held the young horse in high regard after handling his early education. 

“I had a fair to do with the horse, not just until he was a yearling, but when he was broken in as well,” he said. 

“Shannon rang me at the end of his breaking in and said, ‘I don’t think I have ever broken in a horse like him’. It was just his attitude and his action – and she breaks in a lot of horses. She said to me that he was one of the nicest horses she had ever broken in.

“So, this is a pretty big result for Emeran Park and Shannon as well.”

Declaration Of War has emerged as a sire of above average staying horses in Australia, having also sired the winner of Saturday’s VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), the Anthony Freedman-trained Warning, and this year’s Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m) winner Winning Ways.

But the two-season Coolmore shuttler, who has since been sold to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association’s Shizunai Stallion Station, did not return after the 2015 southern hemisphere season as commercial realities led to him not finding enough favour with local breeders.

His first Australian-bred yearlings were sold in 2017, a crop that included Vow And Declare, would average $50,271, while his second crop fared slightly better a year later with 28 lots selling for an average of $62,374.

Malone said it was the harsh commercial realities that made it difficult for breeders to support unproven shuttle stallions as Declaration Of War was at the time with significant mare numbers given the Australian market’s propensity for precocious sprinters.

“If you are going to be a commercial farm and you say you are sending ten mares to Declaration Of War, you won’t be a commercial farm or a farm for very long,” he said.

“Everyone knows that, but that is why the game is so great. We have all got opinions and you will never, ever hear me say ‘that won’t work’ because it can work.

“Declaration Of War had the credentials, but from a commercial point of view we couldn’t go to him, so well done to Paul who did.”

Luckily, as it turned out for Lanskey, Vow And Declare did not make his reserve at the Classic sale, which Malone again put down to buyers not paying Declaration Of War respect in the auction ring.

“He was a lovely horse and if the horse was by any other stallion he would have made four or five times his service fee,” he said. 

Related link

Melbourne Cup race replay

https://www.racing.com/form/2019-11-05/flemington/race/7/results