Thermal Current grabbed a deserved win in the Group 3 Telstra Phonewoods Stakes at Moonee Valley on Saturday after a brave ride by Ben Melham.
Melham had tracked the leaders Ruud Awakening and Hugh Bowman, on the rails, and Va Pensiero and Craig Newitt on the outside, with Red Magnet and Blake Shinn outside him.
As they went through the final turn Melham was faced with a wall ahead of him with no gaps to consider and Red Magnet making it a line of three as he tried to go outside the leaders. To give urgency to the situation Melham had a hand full of horse with Thermal Current looking to stretch out.
Melham searched for a way out by shifting out but as they straightened there were still no openings. Finally Rudd Awakening rolled off the rails, and with 150m to run Melham had his opportunity.
He angled Thermal Current back to the rails and the Exeed And Excel colt sprinted through quickly taking the lead. Outside them the $2.20 favourite Not Listenin' Tome and Dwayne Dunn came hard, as did Selectify and apprentice Chad Schofield, but Thermal Current by then was in control.
“He only needed a bit of luck because he had no joy in the Group 1 (Golden Rose) the other day and we felt that he certainly had the best form going into the race,” trainer Peter Moody said.
“Luck went our way for once and he was the best horse on the day.
“He has always been a high quality colt but he has just raced without luck for a lot of his career so hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence.
“There are a few options during Cup week but we are mindful that he's had a pretty long preparation, he kicked of back in July and he has had a freshen up for this. Our experience with this sort of colt has been that the first run back from a freshen up is the best so this could even be the end of the preparation.
“He has got the Group win beside the good pedigree and we will worry about the rest from there."
“He was probably travelling too well coming to the corner,” Melham said.
“He landed in a good spot, he travelled solid the whole way and thankfully the leader rolled off the fence and I was able to cut back and he had a good turn of foot.
“I knew he was going well, he wanted to poke his nose to get through there,” he said.
