Luckygray wins the 2011 Railway Stakes at Ascot on protest

The heavily backed He’s Remarkable produced his exquisite sprint to past the post first in the $1m Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot today but then lost it in a controversial protest to local Luckygray.

Shaun  O’Donnell rider of second past the post on Luckygray and Paul Harvey on fourth past the post Waratah’s Secret fired in a double protest against Kerrin McEvoy on He’s Remarkable for interference near the 600m mark.

They alleged McEvoy, when coming off the fence, caused interference and the defeat of both Luckygray and Waratah’s Secret.

The stewards agreed with O’Donnell but not Harvey and altered the placings.

Earlier McEvoy used barrier one to advantage, settling He’s Remarkable sixth on the fence while Craig Williams aboard Avienus took up an early lead.

Williams gave up the lead to Rocky Range while Westriver Kevydonn settled fourth just behind Mega Steel in second.

Near the 600m, McEvoy made a quick move to get off the fence and caused Waratah’s Secret interference – it set off a chain reaction that stopped second favourite Ranger in his tracks.

Luckygray had settled with the back six on the fence with O’Donnell taking rails runs.

His progress was impeded but once clear he finished best cutting a four length margin at the top of the straight to a neck.

Westriver Kevydonn, who reach the lead in the straight, battled on for third.

It may go down as a controversial result but the Gino Poletti trained Luckygray showed he has a great future.

By winning, the son of Bradbury’s Luck made it seven wins in nine starts and boosted his prizemoney to over $800,000.

“It is not the way you want to win,” Poletti said.

“The interference was there and you don’t know really how much he lost.

“He was pulled up to 3/4-pace and had to pick himself back up.

“To go down a long-neck it shows the courage of the horse.

“That was my first starter in a Group 1 and my first winner.

“I won a Bunbury Cup with my first starter with Pirate’s Den.”

Poletti bought Luckgray for $47,000 at Perth’s Magic Millions yearling sale.

“Equine Influenza shut down Queensland and the bloke brought a heap of yearlings across to sell,” Poletti said.

“I wanted to buy a Bradbury’s Luck youngster and bought him.

“If they never brought the horses across I probably would not have bought him.”

Luckgray’s win in the Railway was also the first Group 1 win for his sire.

Poletti has Luckygray entered for Saturday week’s Kingston Town Classic (1800m).

For He’s Remarkable, an entire, it was the Group 1 that got away.

He was the best backed runner all week tumbling from $15 to $5.50

Race 8 – 3:45PM CARLTON DRAUGHT-RAILWAY STAKES (1600 METRES)
Of $1,000,000.1st $612,500, 2nd $200,000, 3rd $90,000, 4th $40,000, 5th $20,000, 6th $12,500, 7th $12,500, 8th $12,500 GROUP 1
Quality, Minimum Weight 53kg, Three-Years-Old and Upwards, Apprentices cannot claim.
WestSpeed BonusTrack Condition: Good 3 Time: 1:34.88 Last 600m: 0:34.90 INTERIM RESULTS

 

Finish No. Horse Trainer Jockey Margin Bar. Weight Starting Price
1 11 LUCKYGRAY Gino Poletti Shaun O’Donnell 12 53kg $4
2 9 HE’S REMARKABLE (NZ) Roger James Kerrin McEvoy 0.45L 1 53kg $5.50
3 16 WESTRIVER KEVYDONN Paige Kenney Patrick Carbery 4.25L 2 53kg $21
4 2 WARATAH’S SECRET David Harrison Paul Harvey 4.75L 3 57kg $10
5 15 TRANQUILITY Grant Williams Jason Whiting 6L 16 53kg $26
6 3 RANGER Grant Williams William Pike 6L 5 56kg $4.40
7 10 KINCAPLE (NZ) Mark Reed Troy Turner 6L 13 53kg $13
8 14 SPACECRAFT David Hayes Peter Knuckey 6.25L 10 53kg $26
9 5 LORDS RANSOM Grant Williams Brad Parnham 7L 4 54kg $51
10 6 AVIENUS Mark Webb Craig Williams 7.25L 8 53kg $11
11 12 MEGA STEEL Bruce McClune Jarrad Noske 7.25L 15 53kg $101
12 13 ROCKY RANGE Alan Mathews Shaun Meeres 8L 11 53kg $81
13 7 BATTLE EMBLEM Grant Williams Ms Kyra Yuill (a) 8.5L 9 53kg $71
14 1 PLAYING GOD Neville Parnham Steven Parnham 9.25L 7 57kg $11
15 8 BIG TED Ivan Haggerty Marco Chui 10.25L 14 53kg $151
16 4 KING KOOL KAT Ian Glading Duncan Miller 11.5L 6 55kg $61
18e RINGMEISTER Lindsey Smith 5
17e OUR OL’ FELLA Steve Wolfe Shaun Mc Gruddy 7

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