Peter Moody’s strong season at Group 1 level continued last Saturday as Flamberge took out the Goodwood at Morphettville.
With three Group 1’s apiece in Melbourne and Sydney for the season, Peter Moody ventured west with Flamberge to pursue a second Goodwood success having claimed the 2012 renewal with Black Caviar.
While not with quite the same level of fanfare as Black Caviar, Flamberge followed in his former stablemate’s footsteps in taking out the feature event as a $21 chance at Morphettville last Saturday.
From a wide barrier, Flamberge was trapped wide for jockey Vlad Duric as the pair were positioned three wide with no cover behind the lead pair of Lord Of The Sky and Tudor.
Despite the extra ground travelled, Flamberge was still looming large on straightening and gradually went about reeling the early leaders in.
The Robbie Lang-trained Lord Of The Sky was gallant in defeat however could not hold out Flamberge who edged past inside the 100m before claiming a ¾ length victory.
Under The Louvre edged out West Australian Raider Black Heart Bart for third.
Largely known to be an honest, second tier sprinter prior to last Saturday’s Goodwood, Flamberge returned a Timeform figure of 116 for his moment in the sun.
This is a master Timeform rating for the gelding, two pounds clear of his previous peak returned first up when second to Chautauqua in the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield.
The 2015 renewal of the Goodwood sits below the five year average of the event with Black Caviar’s 2012 renewal still skewing the figure.
The Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben on June 6 is the next logical option for the Exceed And Excel gelding although connections do have reservations about two runs in three weeks with plenty of travel between.
Flamberge generally performs well fresh as evidenced by the fact his past two master figures have been achieved off a break.
A Group 1 in title, Flamberge in general fits the mould of the winner the South Australian sprint feature attracts.
Through the past decade, Takeover Target in 2009 and Black Caviar in 2012 are by far the class winners of the contest.
Winners of the Goodwood outside of this pair can make their presence felt through both the Melbourne and Sydney carnivals as evidenced by what the other winners during this past decade have produced.
Lone Rock (2011) and Platelet (2013) each picked up Group successes in their subsequent spring campaigns while 2014 winner Smokin’ Joey took out the 2015 Carlyon Cup (1600m) at Caulfield.
This being said, Platelet and Smokin’ Joey have continued to perform at Group 1 level without being victorious and Peter Moody’s latest top level winner could perhaps develop a similar profile moving forward into season 2015/16.
