Golden Slipper runner up Microphone was able to make amends to storm home to win the Group 1 $1m Inglis Sires’ (1400m) on Day One of The Championships at Randwick today.
Microphone, above, storms home along the inside to win the 2019 Inglis Sires’ at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Microphone ran a brave race last start when second to Kiamichi in the Group 1 $3.5m Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill two weeks ago but was able to turn the tables on his stablemate in the Inglis Sires’.
Kiamichi ($7.50) set the pace again after leading all of the way to win the Golden Slipper but faded at the end of the 1400m today to dead heat for third with the Richard Litt trained Castelvecchio ($10).
Microphone was well fancied in the betting at $4.60 for the Inglis Sires’ while the runner up Loving Gaby was sent out as the $4.20 favourite.
Trainer James Cummings and the Godolphin Team have produced a top quality group of two year olds and are getting the desired result with two juvenile Group 1 wins over the 2019 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Winning jockey Hugh Bowman settled Microphone back in the field from a wide and waited for the gaps to appear in the straight before making his move.
Bowman was able to weave Microphone through the field before finding clear space up along the inside and the Exceed And Excel colt powered to the line to claim victory.
Cummings said that he was unsure if Microphone would attempt to win the Group 1 $500,000 Moet & Chandon Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick in a fortnight and would wait to see how the colt pulls up during the week.
“We don’t make decisions on race day. We will let the dust settle and talk to the boys about it. We’re pretty excited about his strong effort there at seven furlongs,” Cummings said.
“He’s a star colt. I think back to the Tuesday before the Slipper and he absolutely exploded for us in a gallop. To get there and run second with a colt, for the farm, we would have loved him to get up but to present Sheik Mohammed with a Golden Slipper meant more than that and for him to come here with the effort of the guys to hold him together, we barely had to breath on him for this race today, just be confident in the horse, didn’t do too much with him, and his class shined through.”
“He was able to build underneath Kiamichi. She has run a bold race she just wasn’t quite as settled as she was a fortnight ago. He has gone to the line like a top class colt. He’s a star horse and I can’t tell you how proud I am of him. He stormed to the line once again in another top class two-year-old race. I think the longevity of his campaign, his strength, his class, all those things point to him being the best two-year-old in the country this season and think that’s deserving for the horse.”
