Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au
South Island Sale graduate Palmetto (NZ) (Ghibellines) collected his first black-type win in Australia with a relentless front-running performance in Sunday’s A$200,000 Listed TAB Canberra Cup (2000m).
Palmetto was offered by Three Valleys in the 2020 South Island Sale, where he failed to meet his $10,000 reserve. He has now had 35 starts for seven wins, seven placings and A$1.41m in stakes – more than 150 times his reserve at the South Island Sale.
Palmetto began his career in the Ascot Park stable of Sally McKay, for whom he won the Listed Dunedin Guineas (1500m) and Southland Guineas (1600m). A majority share was subsequently sold across the Tasman and he joined John Sargent’s Randwick stable.
Although he had not won at stakes level until Sunday, Palmetto had proven himself in Australia with three victories including the A$1m Five Diamonds Prelude (1500m) and A$500,000 The Coast (1600m). He had also recorded placings in the Group Three Cameron Handicap (1500m) and Parramatta Cup (1900m).
Palmetto’s black-type breakthrough came with an incredibly tough performance in Canberra on Sunday. He had to carry 58 kilograms while most of his rivals had 54, and he jumped from the outside gate in a field of 11.
But the six-year-old soon strode forward to take the lead in the hands of jockey Tim Clark, and that was where he stayed. Palmetto kicked hard at the top of the home straight, and even though he began to tire in the closing stages, he refused to let the chasers catch him and held on to win in a tight finish.
“He had to do it the hard way,” Clark said. “He was the topweight and had the widest gate. He had to take it up. They all had their chance to beat him, but he was just too tough for them.
“He gave a really good kick in the straight. I’d probably say 2000 metres is stretching his limit, so after doing that work early, he was always going to be a touch vulnerable in the last 100 metres. But it’s a well-deserved win for a horse that’s been racing really well.”
