Perturbo ridden by Ben Melhem has been able to hold on in the final stages to win the All Victorian Sprint Series Final at Flemington racecourse ahead of the fast finishing race favourite Mid Summer Music and Veewap.
Top jockey Ben Melham produced an intelligent ride to get Perturbo home in Saturday’s All Victorian Sprint Series Final at Flemington.
Melham was able to quickly get Perturbo to the outside part of the field from barrier three before allowing the son of Jugah to stride forward to keep the well-backed Mid Summer Music boxed in behind Veewap until the 400 metres of the 1200m feature.
He asked Perturbo for an effort with 350 metres to run and the five-year-old hit top gear while Linda Meech had to wait until the powerful bay swept past her before she sent Mid Summer Music out to chase him.
Perturbo had just enough to hold off the luckless runner-up, who also suffered a check at the start that caused her to settle further back than intended.
“I didn’t really want to go that early but I had to creep up then and lock the favourite away,” Melham said.
“As it turned out, it has probably won him the race.
“It cost her a bit of momentum at the furlong (200m) but we were able to travel into it smoothly and held on.”
Co-trainer Cindy Alderson agreed Melham may have gone a little early on Perturbo but still praised the jockey’s smart effort.
“He is in really good form the horse, and Ben knows how to ride him,” Alderson, who trains Perturbo in partnership with her father Colin, said.
“It was beautiful how he got him across from behind barrier three. He produced him at the right time, he got his momentum up.
“It was a bit nerve-wracking right at the finish but he held on, which is good.”
Alderson said the stable would keep Perturbo to straight racing with the All Victorian Sprint Final the gelding’s third win down the famous Flemington ‘Straight Six’ course.
She said races such as the Group Three Bobbie Lewis Quality and Aurie’s Star Handicap loom as short-term goals for the sprinter.
“Something like that we will have a crack at,” Alderson said.
“The only thing that really goes against him is when the tracks get really wet.”
The Tony Vasil-trained Veewap tried hard but the finishing bursts of Perturbo and Mid Summer Music consigned him to third, three-quarters of a length from the runner-up.
AAP TURF
