Lightning struck twice for six-year-old Glaneuse at Flemington on Saturday as the Michael O’Leary-trained gelding became the first dual winner of the Winter Championship Final.
Glaneuse started at the same $31 quote as he did 12 months ago and stuck his neck out at the right time to take out the $150,000 Listed feature in its 33rd running.
“When he went out last year our full intention was to go for this race again today,” O’Leary said.
Glaneuse went into the 1600m contest, the feature race on finals day at Flemington, having been well beaten in his past two starts.
But O’Leary wasn’t concerned and was confident the gelding was going well enough to turn things around.
The Mount Gambier trainer applied winkers to Glaneuse in an attempt to sharpen the galloper for the final.
“There was nothing wrong with the way he was going,” O’Leary said.
“He’s been going super. Last year I gave him a month between runs going into this race and I wasn’t frightened to do the same thing this year.
“The only thing different was I put a set of winkers on him. I thought it just might sharpen him up that little bit.”
Glaneuse came down the outside under his regular jockey Linda Meech to defeat Galileo Gold ($11) by a short half head with a head to There’s Only One ($6.50) in third.
Meech first rode Glaneuse to win the 2010 Donald Cup and she was also thrilled to claim back-to-back Winter Championship Finals.
“He’s a beautiful horse to ride,” Meech said.
“When we straightened I was confident but then I started to get a little worried in the last one hundred metres when they were coming at him. But he kept sticking his head out.”
Glaneuse is a son of Blevic who died earlier this week from complications following colic surgery.
