Victoria Derby winner Ace High will head back to Melbourne in great shape following his dominant win in the Group 2 $500,000 Yulong Australia Hill Stakes (2000m) at Randwick today.
Ace High, above, scored a top win in the Hill Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Ace High is nominated for both the Group 1 $5m Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield and the Group 1 $7.3m Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington and trainer David Payne will be confident of a good result when he heads back across the border.
Ace High was heavily supported in the betting ring and firmed in to start at $3 while the third placegetter Egg Tart still had plenty of followers and was sent out as the $2.50 favourite.
The James Cummings trained It’ Somewhat ($6.50) ran his best race for almost twelve months when he worked home nicely to split the two favourites.
Winning jockey Tye Angland had Ace High travelling smoothly in the middle of the pack in the early stages of the race and even better when Hugh Bowman circled the field at the 1000m on Who Shot Thebarman ($19) to put some pace into the race.
Bowman had Who Shot Thebarman in full flight coming down the rise but the two miler couldn’t keep up the sprint and Ace High reeled him in at the 250m mark.
Egg Tart tried to go with Ace High but the High Chaparral four year old was too strong on the day while It’s Somewhat was doing his best work at the finish.
Today was Ace High’s fourth Spring Carnival outings and he was coming off a last start fourth to Winx in the Group 1 $500,000 Colgate Optic White (George Main) Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 15 and Payne will be happy with his condition as he prepares for the major Spring Carnival Cups.
Ace High is now a marked at $12 for the 2018 Caulfield Cup at Ladbrokes.com.au and at $21 for the Melbourne Cup.
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