The Lloyd Williams racing team have claimed another Group 1 staying contest with another European import with Foundry winning the Group 1 $750,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick today.
Foundry, above, wins the 2017 The Metropolitan at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Lightweight jockey Michael Dee was rewarded with his first Group 1 win after producing a flawless ride to punch Foundry ($10) to a comfortable win over the Darren Weir trained Big Duke ($5) who tried hard in the straight.
Kiwi stayer Chocante ($21) raced on the pace behind the leader Broadside and battled on in the straight to hold down third spot.
“I’m speechless, I’ve never ridden a winner at this track, I’ve been up here a few times now,” Dee said.
“To win a Group 1, I just couldn’t be happier. To Lloyd Williams and the team at Macedon Lodge, thank you very much for having me on.”
“The horse is a beauty, he’s just lovely to ride, they brought him here in tip-top shape and he ran accordingly. He jumped really well and got there quite easily, I didn’t have to use up much gas early.”
“I got pushed out three-wide on the bend, but luckily I was able to come back and land in the one-one.”
“From then on he travelled beautifully throughout, the team said once he got to the 800m to make it a true staying test so I let him stride and to the horse’s credit, he toughed it right out.”
The Robert Hickmott trained Foundry had had two runs in Melbourne in the lead up to The Metropolitan for a second over 1600m at Caulfield on August 19 followed by a fourth over 2040m at The Valley on September 9.
Foundry is among the nominations for the Group 1 $3.15m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 21 and for the Group 1 $6.25m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 7.
Leading Sydney trainer Chris Waller saddled up four runners in The Metropolitan with the veteran stayer Who Shot Thebarman ($16) the best of the quartet, finishing in fourth spot ahead of Libran ($8.50) in sixth, Antonio Giuseppe ($6.50) in seventh and the $4.20 favourite Life Less Ordinary always near the tail of the field to finish ninth.
