WFA future awaits Sertorius after Zipping Classic win

A weight for age future lies ahead for Sertorius after the six year old rose up to the occasion in taking out the Group 2 $350,000 Deadly Design Zipping Classic (2400m) at Caulfield today.

Sertorius scores a clear cut win in the Zipping Classic.

Sertorius scores a clear cut win in the Zipping Classic. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.

Tackling weight for age company for the first, Sertorius made amends for last week’s narrow defeat by Precedence in the Group 3 $300,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington.

The Jamie Edwards and Bruce Elkington trained six year old was beaten a nose at Flemington but a cool ride by Ryan Maloney today saw Sertorius ($3.70) score a clear cut two lengths win over Epingle ($12) and the Gai Waterhouse trained Queenstown ($5.50).

Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Precedence was sent out the $3.40 favourite but after a nice run just worse than midfield, failed to run on in the straight for Craig Williams and finished in sixth spot.

Seretorius has been a consistent money spinner for the stable and put the writing on the wall at his most recent outing that a major race win is not too far away.

Today’s win was very satisfying for Edwards after the stable had gone through some tough recent times after he suffered some serious injuries.

“He deserves to be put away and we will have to raise out sights for him for the Autumn,” Edwards said.

“Just rapt. We’ve had a tough time the last twelve months and this has really topped it off, really good, happy with it.”

Edwards was quick to praise Ryan Maloney and applauded his ride to get Sertorius to score one of the biggest wins of his career.

“Go and have look at Ryan Maloney. You will not get a better ride than that,” Edwards said.

Maloney settled Sertorius in fifth and sixth position on the fence and found a run along the rails in the straight to slip up the inside of the leader over the concluding stages.

Maloney was also quick to thank owner Mike Palmer for sticking with him and said that he could have been riding at the country meeting at Dunkeld instead of riding a Group 2 winner at Caulfield.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.