Retired sprint champion Apache Cat parades for his many fans before the inaugural Apache Cat Classic. 54629 By Paul Pickering
MICK Kent quashed his home cup hoodoo in emphatic style on Sunday, producing the quinella with Starmon and My Bentley in the $175,000 Cranbourne Cup.
The unflappable trainer’s intensions were clear when he entered four horses in the Listed 2025m race, and he could hardly have asked for a better outcome.
Nor could he have asked for a better ride from champion jockey Glen Boss, who guided Kiwi-bred mare Starmon ($9) into a winning position at the top of the straight and booted her home.
Craig Newitt and My Bentley ($9) were pipped at the post, while frontrunner and rank outsider Tube ($101) held on to give Damien Williams third place in a Cranbourne-trained trifecta.
Kent, who publicly thanked Boss for “a perfect ride”, said he had a feeling his charges would be thereabouts at the finish.
“It’s probably the first year I thought I had a chance of winning it, so it’s a great thrill,” he said.
“I identified those two horses for the race a while ago, but of course everything has to go well … and it all went well.
“I just thought (Starmon) drew well (from barrier four). Knowing her style of racing, she wasn’t gunna be far away and she’s got a good turn of foot.”
Starmon is related to a handy galloper Kent had a while back named Fair Trade, which won the Group Three C. S. Hayes Stakes at Flemington last year.
A friend spotted her in New Zealand a couple of years ago and gave Kent the tip.
He now plans to run the five-year-old bay in the Group Two Matriarch Stakes at Flemington on Emirates Stakes Day, while My Bentley is likely to head to the Bendigo Cup on 27 October.
“It was good to see them both race well, because I’m looking forward to the spring with them,” he said.
Other highlights of Sunday’s racing included a dramatic finish in the inaugural Apache Cat Classic, with Mick Pitman’s Coup Align surviving a third-versus-first protest to take the spoils.
Williams may have thought he had a double on the cards with Tube in the Cup, but had to settle for a win in the 1200m third with Paper Prince.
Boss, Craig Williams, Craig Newitt and Michael Walker all rode doubles for the day.
A bumper crowd of around 10,000 enjoyed every moment of a picture-perfect afternoon.
