Star six-year-old Washakie claimed a close victory on Friday night in the coveted $400 000 Group 1 Find Thirty Every Day WA Pacing Cup (2536m).
Starting from the front row barrier four as the $2.50 favourite, the Queensland trained Washaki beat home the Gary Hall-trained Im Themightyquinn ($4.70) by 1.2m with Our Malabar ($41.70) the surprise third placegetter an extra four metres back.
It was a rough and tumble affair with many of the top elects finding themselves restrained after the start and unable to get a clear run including Has The Answers ($5.60) who came in fifth behind Alzona ($40.40) the roughie who had a great run for fourth, and sixth placegetter Bonavista Bay ($6.50).
The eventual winner was four deep into the first turn after showing great gate speed and then found himself caught three wide early on. Washakie continued to have a tough run but pressed forward to get up and make his move on the outside of the leader, crossing Indian Giver to lead the way into the back straight.
Inside the 650m local hero Im Themightyquinn raced up to Washakie and gave it everything he had, the two racing head to head before Im Themightyquinn snatched the lead for a few metres. But it was Washakie who took home the title after pulling out a final burst of acceleration to pull away from his fast finishing rival to take the title by just over a metre.
Early leader Indian Giver lost pace and ran out of charge, stopping to a walk in the final stretch and eventually finishing a distant ninth.
The John McCarthy-trained and driven Washakie peeled off sensational quarter sectionals to run a record breaking mile rate of 1:56.3, beating Our Sir Vancelot’s previous race mile rate record of 1:57.3 set in 1998. The $250 000 first place prizemoney raised his earnings to an impressive $699 945 from his 24 career wins.
Now a triple Group 1 winner, Washakie will move on to the $400 000 BIG6 Hunter Cup at Moonee Valley on February 6, for which he has now been penalised 10m.
The victory also saw Washakie elevate to third on the overall Barastoc Grand Circuit leaderboard with four races to go in the series. Washakie sits on 11 points, four behind the leader Monkey King.
2010 WA Pacing Cup Results:
Placing |
Horse |
Prizemoney |
Row & Br. |
Trainer |
Driver |
Margin (m) |
| 1 |
WASHAKIE (NZ) |
$250 000 | Fr4 | J P McCarthy | J P McCarthy | - |
| 2 |
IM THEMIGHTYQUINN |
$62 500 | Sr1 | G E Hall Snr. | G E Hall Jnr. | 1.20 |
| 3 |
OUR MALABAR (NZ) |
$30 000 | Fr8 | R J Mellsop | R J Mellsop | 5.20 |
| 4 |
ALZONA |
$15 000 | Sr2 | G E Hall Snr. | S J Cramp | 7.50 |
| 5 |
HAS THE ANSWERS |
$7 500 | Fr9 | T Svilicich | A C Lewis | 10.10 |
| 6 |
BONAVISTA BAY |
$5 833 | Fr6 | M G Reed | M B Reed | 13.80 |
| 7 |
SCHINZIG BULLER |
$5 833 | Fr2 | R P Bell | R P Bell | 14.00 |
| 8 |
TALK TO ME COURAGE (NZ) |
$5 833 | Fr7 | G E Hall Snr. | K N Prentice | 18.30 |
| 9 |
INDIAN GIVER (NZ) |
$5 833 | Fr1 | G E Hall Snr. | M L Woodley | 57.20 |
| 10 |
CAN RETURN FIRE (NZ) |
$5 833 | Fr5 | A M Bell | C D Brown | 62.40 |
| 11 |
PALOMINE (NZ) |
$5 833 | Fr3 | R J Huston | S J Suvaljko | 129.20 |
| Scratched: | ||||||
| TEE PEE VILLAGE (NZ) – Late | ||||||
| HY ROYALE | ||||||
| AMONGST ROYALTY – Late |