Authoritarian relished the wet track conditions at Flemington today to lead all of the way to win the Listed $150,000 VRC St Leger (2800m).

Authoritarian relishes the wet conditions to win the VRC St Leger at Flemington. Photo by Adrienne Bicknell.

The Flemington track was downgraded to a soft 6 when the rain arrived during the day and co trainer Lee Freedman couldn’t hide his smiles as the gloom set in.

“I thought this horse was perfectly placed today. He was going to eat up every yard of the 2800m and the soft ground was just perfect for him,” Freedman said.

“It’s been a bit of hard luck race for me. I won it many years ago and I had about four or five seconds in it.”

Freedman said that Authoritarian only started to show his real ability when he hit a wet track and led all the way to win a 2424m Maiden at Geelong on a soft 5.

“We thought he was a bit average early but when we got him on a wet track for the first time. First start in a race at 1400m he ran really well in the wet, a 1400m on a wet track. So we knew he loved it and I was just barracking the rain.”

“This man (owner Dr Steven Silk) here has been with me for thirty years, It is really great.”

Winning jockey Daniel Moor will head off to Mauritius tomorrow on a winning note after taking Authoritarian ($6.50) to the lead in the early stages and before skipping away in the straight to win by three and a quarter lengths.

“It’s great for Daniel because he has done a lot of work for our stable,” Freedman said.

“The inclination might have been to drop him off and put somebody else on, but he knows the horse and no one could have ridden him better.”

Cuban Fighter ($13) ran home for second with the well fancied Gifted Lad ($4.80) a close third.

Favourite General Zabeel ($4.20) settled fifth on the fence and after making an early move in the straight faded to finish ninth.