Honest miler Twickenham upset the applecart to land his second consecutive Committee’s Prize (1600m) in almost identical fashion on Sunday.
Clearly headed halfway up the straight after showing the way, Twickenham came back with a second wind to outbattle his rivals and snare the $200,000 Group 3 event by the proverbial pimple last year.
Surprisingly, the St George Stable-owned gelding – named after English owner and keen rugby fan Paul Hickman’s love for the legendary stadium - had since raced very sparingly, coming out only seven times, with no earth-shattering performances from him to write home about.
Gray was, however, unfazed. To him, Twickenham is not a weight-for-age horse, and the return of the handicap feature race 12 months later could not have coincided at a better time with the return to form of the Artie Schiller seven-year-old.
The lead-up form may not have been all that flash, but Gray has been brimming with a quiet confidence all week long.
“I’m so rapt. It’s taken him 12 months to win this race again!” said the Kiwi handler, before cheekily adding: “I’d also like to thank Ricardo Le Grange for putting Quechua in the race, he made it much easier for us. The handicap was just right.”
Gray was obviously alluding to the Gold Cup-Derby winner’s much superior rating of 108 points, squeezing half the field down to the minimum weight of 50kgs. Last year, Twickenham won with 52.5kgs on his back.
“It’s been very tough for him running in weight-for-age races, but he was still running well in his grade,” he added.
“He had been working well and was back to his form of last year when he won that race. With 50kgs and a soft lead, he was able to go all the way. Nobody came to soften him up in front and CC Wong rode him very well.
“I’m so rapt for Paul as he’s been a loyal owner of mine for a long time. I haven’t planned anything for Twickenham yet, I will just enjoy that win and have a big party tonight.”
At $167, Twickenham was the second longest-priced outsider in the 12-horse field with St George stablemate Newlands (Derreck David, ninth) the rank-outsider on $174, but from the way he was rated to perfection in front by last year’s Singapore champion apprentice jockey, it became increasingly clear he had been unjustifiably neglected in the market.
Despite beginning from an awkward alley, Twickenham came across quite easily to lead out from Laughing Gravy (Craig Grylls) right on his haunches. Last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner was, however, the first to show the white flag at the 400m.
The Ricardo Le Grange duo of Mr Fantastic (Barend Vorster) and Big Brother (Nooresh Juglall) were the next two off the cab rank, but Twickenham was pulling out plenty upfront.
Another lightweight Preditor (Benny Woodworth) also came with a stinging run but the day belonged to Twickenham and Wong who was incidentally capturing his first feature race in his already brilliant young career.
Twickenham scored with half-a-length to spare from Mr Fantastic with Preditor third another three parts of a length away. Nova Strike (Shafiq Rizuan) loomed as a threat when he hovered around behind the leading trio, but stayed one-paced to run fourth another nose away. The winning time was 1min 35.01secs for the mile on the Long Course.
“I’m very pleased I won my first Group race. I’m very thankful to Stephen Gray and the owner,” said Wong.
“The trainer prepared the horse very well. He had no weight on his back and the plan was to go forward.
“He just kept going all the way to the line.”
Currently locked in a ding-dong battle with Mark Walker’s apprentice jockey Zawari Razali in his bid to retain his title, Wong was as usual playing down the intensity of the rivalry between the two.
“Zawari is a good jockey. I’m in front now, but I’m sure there will be a good fight till the end,” said the Penang-born rider.
Zawari led on 23 winners coming into Sunday’s meeting, but Wong bagged a double (he won earlier aboard Sun Dream) while he could only hit back with one win aboard Aspen for his master in the $35,000 Always Certain 2010 Stakes, a Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m, meaning they have again traded first place with Wong again sitting atop on 24 winners.
