Melbourne Cup favourite and new Group 1 star Incentivise solidified his position at the head of the market with a strong performance in Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes.
The son of Shamus Award was winning a second Group 1 for owners Windemere Stud and Yes Bloodstock.
For more information on Incentivise and other favourite runners for this year’s edition, check out our Melbourne Cup odds page.
Moody Runner Tough in Victory
Crucially taking on Flemington Racecourse this time, Peter Moody’s gelding showed his versatility as well as his class. The 1000-metre trip wasn’t ideal, but he showed all the attributes of a champion to deny outsider Young Werther at the line.
Incentivise settled well into the race under Brett Peebles. Travelling nicely, he was sent to the lead some way from home and opened up on the bend.
The challengers came of course, Sir Dragonet and favourite Verry Elleegant being among them. Danny O’Brien’s Young Werther was the strongest of them however and closed sharply on Incentivise towards the finish.
The Cup favourite however just kept finding, looking impressively tough, to eventually record a half-length win.
Longer Trip in Cup is a Bonus
Despite having taken the Makybe Diva Stakes previously over just 1600 metres, the Turnbull trip still looked some way short of what’s needed to get the best out of this taking horse.
Having gone up in distance already from 1600 to 2000, the idea is that the further the Tattersall’s Cup winner goes, the better he’ll be. He is now set for the Caulfield Cup on October 16, in which he is rock-solid favourite once again.
The form of this win looks good too. Verry Elleegant was a close-up fourth, while Sir Dragonet and Persan also put in solid performances in behind. The Caulfield Cup now looks set to be a cracker in two weeks’ time.
Cup Star of the Future Born?
Incentivise’s win was electric, and with four weeks still to go until the Melbourne Cup we may already have seen a contender or two for next year’s race over in Europe.
Over in Paris, Longchamp hosted its famed Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend. The Group 2 Prix Chaudenay took place on Saturday for three-year-olds only over 3000 metres and was eye-opening.
The event provided another big race 1-2 for Godolphin and main trainer Charlie Appleby. Their Manobo lead home Kemari by three quarters of a length, a result which could impact next year’s Carnival.
After winning the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot in June, Appleby had immediately nominated the Melbourne Cup as the main target for Kemari. That of course was before Godolphin’s decision not to send their overseas runners to Australia this time around.
Considering stablemate Manobo, still unbeaten now after four runs, went off the 7/10 favourite in France it was always going to take some effort to get close to him. His reputation is indeed growing by the day.
Kemari did that though, and while on a day when we may have seen the last of Europe’s staying star Stradivarius, Manobo can take his crown which could leave Kemari travelling to Australia after all in twelves months’ time.
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