A brilliant ride by jockey Danny Nikolic on Mosheen saw the filly take out the $750,000 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington today in devastating fashion.
For the second year in a row a filly was too good for the colts and geldings after the Danny O’Brien filly Shamrocker won the Group 1 for three year olds last year.
Mosheen ($5) jumped from the extreme outside barrier of the sixteen horse field but Nikolic was able to position her on the fence before the 1200m.
From there Nikolic was able to nurse the filly into the straight and once he worked her into the clear at the 300m she raced away to score by three lengths from Strike The Stars ($17) who ran home nicely and outsider Mister Hilton ($91)
“I’m thrilled to bits for its s real team effort with Robert Smerdon and all his team. From that marble I was always going to plan a pretty good ride,” Nikolic said.
“She just switched off pretty good and I was able to shoot her across. I kept getting the runs I needed and it was just a matter of getting the split at the top of the straight. It was a good win.”
The win was a very special one for Robert Smerdon and he was very excited after Mosheen put in such a commanding win against a high class field of three year olds.
“That gave me a great great thrill,” Smerdon said.
“Danny rode her work at Sandwon about eight days ago and said he hadn’t ridden a horse that worked like that in years. We were really getting excited and confident until the barrier draw.”
“We got knocked over at the barrier draw.”
“She is obviously a very very talented filly, she has never run poorly and always run at the highest level.”
Smerdon has no doubt now that Mosheen is the highest class after adding the Guineas to her Crown Oaks win.
He will now set his sights on Sydney and the Group 1 $600,000 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill on March 24 and the Group 1 $2m Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on April 21.
The disappointment of the race was the $4.20 favourite Helmet who blew his chances at the start when he reared just before the gates opened and ended up out the back instead of setting the tempo with the leaders and could only beat four runners home.
Trainer Peter Snowden was disappointed with the result but still has confidence in Helmet heading over to Dubai for the $US1 million UAE Derby (1800m) at Meydan in Dubai World Cup Carnival on March 31.
“It’s really hard to watch. He’s done it before. In the Golden Rose he did a similar thing then blew them away in the Caulfield Guineas. I’m taking it under my wing and taking him to Dubai,” Snowden said.
