Moody's Big Flemington Double
- Saturday, 10 July 2010 08:15
Victoria's leading trainer Peter Moody picked up a winning double at Flemington when Elumino swept home to claim the All Victorian Sprint Series Final.
The mare's success came less than an hour after stablemate Doubtful Jack took the Winter Championship Final with ridiculous ease.
Although Elumino's victory wasn't as clear-cut as that of Doubtful Jack, Moody saw enough merit in it to look towards early spring stakes races as he plots a black-type campaign for the four-year-old.
"Unfortunately that wasn't a black-type race but that's where she needs to go now," Moody said.
"We'll probably have a go at the Cockram Stakes at Caulfield early in the spring and then give her a break when the good mares come back.
"Then we could bring her back and have a look at some Listed races at the end of the spring carnival.
"She's won over $200,000 but the goal now is to get some black type for her before she finishes up."
Moody had been concerned that Elumino had not been finishing off her races when ridden close to the speed in recent runs, and instructed jockey Luke Nolen to settle near the rear of the field to enable the mare to find her feet.
The plan paid off with Elumino ($13) storming down the middle of the track over the final 200m to defeat the Mark Kavanagh-trained favourite Elusive Touch ($3) by a head, with veteran sprinter Grand Duels ($9) 1-3/4 lengths away third.
The win extended Moody's unbeatable lead in the metropolitan trainers' premiership and gave Nolen a 12-win buffer on the jockeys' table over apprentice Jason Maskiell.
Both Moody and Nolen will claim the first premierships of their careers when the metropolitan season concludes on July 31 at Caulfield.
Elumino's owners run the pub at Birdsville on the edge of the Simpson Desert, more than 1300 kilometres to the southeast of Townsville where the owners of Doubtful Jack reside.
"It's a good day for Queensland and they'll be rocking the Birdsville Pub tonight," Moody said.
Pictures: Fiona Tomlin
