Dissident broke through for his maiden win at Group 1 level with a tough victory in the 2014 Randwick Guineas at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
Dissident battled home strongly to score a narrow win over El Roca in the 2014 Randwick Guineas this afternoon. Photo by: Steve Hart
Veteran jockey Jimmy Cassidy pushed forward on Dissident from an outside gate in the early stages of the race, just as he did in the Hobartville Stakes a fortnight ago, and the Sebring colt travelled beautifully during the run.
Pre-race favourite El Roca was positioned just behind Dissident and looked as though he had the race won when he hit the front at the 100 metre mark, but Dissident fought back bravely to score his second straight victory.
Trainer Peter Moody has always had a high opinion of Dissident and believes that the Randwick Guineas win was just rewards for the talented colt that was narrowly denied victory by Zoustar in the Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival.
“It is pretty hard to get past him and it was great to see a couple of warriors out there together,” Moody said after the race.
“He has toughed it out, he has just got that little bit fitter and a bit more forward each time that he has come to the races.
“We saw his efforts here in the spring, around Zoustar, and he was wide in the Golden Rose and just got nutted.
“He has come back a bigger and stronger colt and he has stamped himself as one of the best in his age group in the country.”
Moody said earlier in the week that he expected Dissident to be even stronger over 2000 metres in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens in fortnights time, but he is unsure whether the three-year-old will contest the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) or Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) during The Championships at Royal Randwick.
“We are going to the Rosehill Guineas, which is the race I’ve always had him earmarked for, and then it will de decision time; whether we go to the Derby or go back for the Doncaster,” Moody said.
“It was great to see him win over the Randwick mile today.”
Cassidy, who was celebrating his 101st Group 1 victory, was instrumental in the decision to go forward on Dissident when he won the Hobartville Stakes and elected to use the same tactics when the three-year-old draw wide in the Randwick Guineas barrier draw.
The veteran jockey said that he was delighted with the way that Dissident travelled in the early stages of the race and paid credit to the toughness of the stallion prospect in the last 100 metres of the Group 1 event.
“It was a marvelous effort; he had a bad alley and we decided to ride him the same and be positive.
“I wanted to be up there early and when I ended up in front he just traveled beautifully and he just relaxed.
“He is starting to turn from a boy to a man, which is great.”
Peter Moody was celebrating his first Group 1 victory in Sydney since he took out the 2013 T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) with equine superstar Black Caviar.
