Choisir cheer for Aussies
This was one of the high points of an up and down day for Johnny Murtagh who soon had Choisir in front, and keeping up the gallop in fine style the strong stocky colt was always holding the call in the closing stages even though Acclamation finished strongly to take second prize.
Choisir had a length to spare and Perry, one of the leading Australian trainers who is based at Newcastle, about 100 miles from Sydney, could hardly contain his delight at having beaten the home team on their own patch.
He said: "It is a great thrill and this must be one of the best days of my life, I will look back at this in years to come and I am sure this will be a sensational memory and I am sure we will come back."
The plan earlier in the year had been to target the Krisflyer Sprint in Singapore which was called off because of the SARS virus, so a trip to Britain was put on the agenda, and Perry went on: "We would not have come here otherwise, so it was a blessing in disguise
"Horses from this side of the world have won two Melbourne Cups so they will love this back home and it will square things up."
Murtagh, the meeting's leading jockey for the past two years, acquired the ride as he had taken two mounts for the colt's trainer, Paul Perry, when on a working holiday in Australia during his apprenticeship.
However, he came close to losing it after taking an unpleasant tumble when Red Power, his intended mount in the Coventry Stakes, reared over in the stalls. Michael Kinane was on standby until Murtagh was deemed fit.
"It wasn't a good start but the second race made up for the first," said Murtagh, who will ride Choisir in the second leg of an audacious double in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes on Saturday. "At the furlong pole I couldn't hear anything else so I looked up at the big screen to see where they were. I knew that we had it then and now I am looking forward to Saturday."
