THERE is a plethora of group one options in store for the Miners Rest-trained Veight after a thrilling win in Saturday's group 2 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley.
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The Tony and Calvin McEvoy trained galloper became the first three-year-old in eight years to win the 1200m classic, edging out a fast-finishing Southport Tycoon after chasing down leader Recommendation.
Calvin McEvoy told the host broadcaster after the race it was the perfect start to the preparation for the talented youngster.
"Geez, that was bloody exciting, he's a very nice colt. This was the plan, to kick him off here." he said.
"The plan is to go into the Orr, then The Futurity. We're going to keep the door open to the Australian Guineas, but he's pretty explosive at these 1200-1400m trips.
"When we targeted the Coolmore last prep, it was off the back of a Guineas preparation, it wasn't ideal. We did the best to freshen him up and he ran gallantly.
"But if we tried to train him that way (towards The Newmarket) there's no reason why he couldn't be a very good sprinter."
Now an open age winner at just three, a group one campaign will be a plan through the rest of the autumn.
"He's proved himself against the older horses now, and let's hope he can do it again next start."
KENNEDY GETS HER MAIDEN CITY WIN
Young Ballarat apprentice jockey Jaylah Kennedy has scored her first metro winner on a huge day for Miners Rest stables at Moonee Valley.
Kennedy piloted the Mitch Freedman-trained Ceerseven to a last-gasp win in the second on the card.
The win was Kennedy's 48th overall, with Kennedy's 3kg apprentice claim probably the difference between the horse winning or just being beaten.
"Unbelievable... a massive thanks to Mitch, the connections of this horse and the whole team," she told Channel 7 after the race
"They didn't have to keep me on today, he only had the 58.5kg before the claim.
"But they stuck to their guns and stuck with me, and I'm just glad I could repay them."
She said she stuck to her plan to wait until the last moment.
"I had to bite the bullet and ride pretty patiently, and he really wanted to tow me into the race probably before I wanted him to," she said.
"But it was just about keeping a rhythm and keeping him balanced, and he was really strong to the line."
ONE LAST WIN FOR MAHER AND EUSTACE
They didn't quite make it in the feature race, running second and third behind the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Veight, but the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace combination has gone out a winner in their final race day as a team.
The training duo, who this week notified stewards of the end of the training partnership, with Eustace set to move to Hong Kong, produced one last winner when Socks Nation took out the opening race on the card at Moonee Valley on Saturday, giving Ballarat stable jockey John Allen one last win for the duo.
The feature event, the Australia Stakes over 1200m saw Southport Tycoon fly home for second while Recommedation looked to have the race won halfway down the straight before being swamped by Veight and finishing third.
On Friday the pair just missed out on a group three win when three-year-old King Colorado put in an eye-catching run for second in the Manfred at Caulfield.
Maher said after the Australia Stakes he thought Southport Tycoon could have snatched the win over favourite Veight.
"I was very confident that he could win this race,' Maher said. "Given the way the three-year-olds ran yesterday they gave me a lot of confidence today because he's been working as well, if not better, than all of them.
"If he steps a fraction better, he definitely makes it interesting. He's got a hell of a lot of upside. He's still maturing."
