Cranbourne-based trainer Clinton Mcdonald pulled off a betting plunge as Stanley Express descended late on the line to win the $1 million VOBIS Showdown (1200m) at Caulfield.
A right move was made to stay closer to home than making a trip to Adelaide for the Group 3 Breeders' Stakes at Morphettville.
"We wanted to go to Bendigo (two weeks ago) but we missed that run and we had to come here first-up," McDonald said.
"He is a horse that we had a good line on, and he has shown us a lot at home."
Well-backed from double figure quotes into $7, Stanley Express was a $110,000 purchase at the 2022 Magic Millions Weanling Sale and stamped a smart prizemoney one-hit boost for prime sire Starspangledbanner.
This win also completed a rich juvenile feature double at Caulfield for the McDonald stable after Hayasugi took out the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) in February.
"He's an exciting horse," McDonald added.
Ridden by Luke Nolen, Stanley Express scored by a half-length margin over the Mathew Ellerton-trained Symphony Of Colour ($26) and Stormbourg ($51) 1¼-lengths away in third.
It also added to a winning pair for McDonald after Angel Capital won at Cranbourne on Friday night, with stable intentions to point the colt towards the Queensland Racing Carnival two-year-old feature Group 1 JJ Atkins Stakes (1600m) at Eagle Farm.
Showdown pre-race favourite Bold Bastille was a late scratching after breaking through her barrier stall after loading.
Vets withdrew the Hayes-trained filly finding upper teeth had been dislodged in the incident.
FP | Silk | Horse, Age & Sex Sire & Dam |
Jockey Trainer |
SP
WT |
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st |
7. STANLEY EXPRESS (AUS) 2yo G STARSPANGLEDBANNER (AUS) - VIVID (AUS) |
LUKE NOLEN CLINTON MCDONALD |
$7
58kg |
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Harbour Racing & S J McGrath | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
2nd |
13. SYMPHONY OF COLOUR (AUS) 2yo F SHAMUS AWARD (AUS) - NEDIYM'S GLOW (AUS) |
JOE BOWDITCH MATHEW ELLERTON |
$26
56kg |
||||||||
Hesket Bloodstock (Mgr: D J Moodie) | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
3rd |
3. STORMBOURG (AUS) 2yo G STRASBOURG (AUS) - GRACEFUL STORM (AUS) |
PATRICK MOLONEY JOHN MOLONEY |
$51
58kg |
||||||||
J F Moloney, A W Crosby, Jimmy's Corner (Mgr: R T Deagan), B F McCartney, G P McCartney, B J Khan, L T Smith, J C Morley, T N T Thoroughbred No. 1 (Mgr: A Pilimon), A J Veenman, R C Standish & D J Ferguson | |||||||||||
4th |
10. LINCOLNSHIRE (AUS) 2yo F STARSPANGLEDBANNER (AUS) - FURNIVAL (USA) |
LINDA MEECH PETER G MOODY & KATHERINE COLEMAN |
$4.4
56kg |
||||||||
5th |
2. WAR COUNCIL (AUS) 2yo C ROYAL MEETING (IRE) - RUSSIAN RITES (AUS) |
DEAN YENDALL M, W & J HAWKES |
$101
58kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
6th |
6. INDEFINITE (NZ) 2yo G BRAZEN BEAU (AUS) - TIMESPAN (GB) |
BEN ALLEN CIARON MAHER |
$21
58kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
7th |
15. GELLHORN (AUS) 2yo F OMAHA BEACH (USA) - SIGRID (AUS) |
ETHAN BROWN MICHAEL KENT |
$21
56kg |
||||||||
8th |
16. COASTAL ABBEY (AUS) 2yo F OMAHA BEACH (USA) - STOCKTON ABBEY (AUS) |
WILL PRICE ANDREW ANGELONE |
$201
56kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
9th |
14. MRS ARCHIBALD (AUS) 2yo F STARSPANGLEDBANNER (AUS) - SUPER SNOB (AUS) |
DANIEL MOOR JASON WARREN |
$51
56kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
10th |
1. LINKVUE (AUS) 2yo G OVERSHARE (AUS) - LINKVILLE (AUS) |
JAMIE MOTT TOBY LAKE |
$12
58kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
11th |
12. COSMIC RIDE (AUS) 2yo F SHAMUS AWARD (AUS) - COSMIC ROCK (AUS) |
ZAC SPAIN MICK PRICE & MICHAEL KENT JNR |
$21
56kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
12th |
11. TORONESS (AUS) 2yo F TORONADO (IRE) - SINGLE PRINCESS (AUS) |
CELINE GAUDRAY SIMON ZAHRA |
$41
56kg |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
13th |
5. CENTRE SQUARE (AUS) 2yo G BLUE POINT (IRE) - SHOWY ZOE (AUS) |
DECLAN BATES CIARON MAHER |
$41
58kg |
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