With trainer Mick Price expressing his confidence that
Lankan Rupee would land in the Group 1, A$450,000 Moir winner’s circle, on four showed up to oppose that triple
Group 1 winner and world’s highest-rated sprinter in Friday’s contest.
In the end, however, it was the veteran
gelding and ultra-reliable Buffering who would deliver Lankan Rupee a second consecutive shock
defeat while collecting a fourth Group 1 of his own.
Lankan Rupee
was fastest of the quintet away from the gates, but Buffering and jockey Damien Browne quickly
worked their way to the front, leading the favorite by about a length down the back
straight and up the side of the course. Lankan Rupee cut the margin to a half-length coming off the
turn and gradually ate into his rival’s advantage running up the short straight, but he
lacked a strong kick as Buffering held on.
Last year’s Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke winner Rebel Dane made an eye-catching run up the rail to be third.
Long racing in the shadow of the likes of Black Caviar and Hay List,
Buffering had placed 10 times at the highest level prior to earning his first
Group 1 in his 35th start in last year’s Manikato over Moonee Valley’s course. Victories in the Group 1 VRC Sprint Classic and Group 1 Winterbottom followed, and while Buffering went winless through a four-race autumn campaign
earlier this year, the Mossman gelding rounded out that campaign with three consecutive third-place finishes
in Group 1 company and was making his first start as a seven-year-old in the
Moir.
Trainer Robert Heathcote praised Browne’s ride, telling
RacingNetwork.com.au, “He rated him a treat, he put the
pressure on at the 700 meters. It looked like he was going to go down, but he’s a little
bulldog — he just fights.”
Heathcote noted that a title defense run in the October 24 Manikato would be next
for Buffering.
“We will stick with what we did last year,” he said. “He will have a jump out
at Flemington to blow out the cobwebs.”
Lankan Rupee’s jockey Craig Newitt said his mount is
just not the same horse over the quirky Moonee Valley course, where he has suffered both
defeats this season.
“He was a neck away on the home turn and by the time I
straightened up he was a length behind,” Newitt told RacingNetwork.com.au. “I still thought
he was going to win. He’s going as well as last prep, but I can’t wait to get him away from
the Valley and down the straight.”
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