Archedemus has erased memories of his Provincial Championship failure with his victory in the Group Three Hawkesbury Gold Cup.
After stringing together five wins, Archedemus started favourite in the $500,000 Provincial Championship final at Randwick two weeks ago but finished eighth when he got hemmed in behind horses.
His defeat was the dark spot of the carnival for trainer Gwenda Markwell and owner Ross Williams who won the Australian Derby with Angel Of Truth.
Derby-winning jockey Corey Brown let Archedemus ($3.20 fav) stride to the front in Saturday’s 1600m-race, a tactic the five-year-old appreciated.
Fan favourite Tom Melbourne ($6.50) moved up to challenge in the straight but Archedemus gave a kick and relegated him to another feature race placing, winning by half a length.
“He’s certainly a nice horse and he knows how to win a race,” Markwell said.
“I looked at him at the 600 (metres) and I thought ‘you’re cantering’ and I knew he’d keep going.
“My only worry was the firm track. I really liked him with the 53 kilos and if it had been a bit wet I would have declared him.”
Markwell said although Archedemus had had a long preparation he had not been over-taxed and there could be a race for him at the Brisbane winter carnival.
“We’ll see how he pulls up whether he heads to Queensland,” she said.
“He’s been up a long time because the preparation was geared around the Provincial Championship but he’s only had the five starts.”
Brown said he was always travelling well.
“He got the easy run in front and with no weight I just let him run,” he said.
Tom Melbourne’s second was his 15th minor placing from 42 starts which have also netted six wins.
His jockey Glyn Schofield said the 6kg weight differential was telling in the final stages of the race and Tom Melbourne had performed well.
“He ran well,” Schofield said.
“He loomed but the winner just found more with no weight after getting an easy time in front. It was a good performance.”
Sixties Groove ($21) finished third, 3-1/4 lengths behind Tom Melbourne in his first start for trainer Kris Lees after formerly being trained by Darren Weir.
