Asterix ($4.20), a seven-year-old, Chris Waller-trained son of Tavistock, proved to be too strong for Pounding ($3.70) in the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup at Eagle Farm, edging away from his only rival late in the running after these two runners had joined issue inside the final 100m.
While there might have only been six runners involved, they did produce a lively contest for much of the race with only a little over a length separating all of the runners as the field turned into the home straight.
In fact, there were five runners in a line disputing the lead at that stage. The only runner missing from that lineup was Asterix who was just a length back, cornering six wide, sitting right on the heels of Pounding … and Tim Clark kept Asterix in Pounding’s slipstream until the field approached the 300m where Clark shifted the Waller-trained runner out into clear running.
The chase was now well and truly on and, although Etna Rosso ($7.50) and Prince Levi ($26) did provide a threat along the inside for a long way, it was the race between Pounding and Asterix, whose battle was taking place down the centre of the track, that was going to decide the result.
With 200m left to run Asterix had a length to make up on Pounding. With 120m left to run Asterix was alongside Pounding and, while Asterix then put his head in front inside the 100m, Pounding was certainly not going away and his resilience forced Asterix to dig even deeper and he duly produced the concentrated effort that was required to gain a secure upper hand, going to the line with a 0.43-length margin.
Asterix, after a below-par run in the Group 2 The Q22 … a race which has courted some controversy because of the pedestrian pace in which it was run and the suggested lack of urgency amongst the also-rans in trying to run down Royal Supremacy who was gifted a big lead … returned to his previously established competitive level here.
Successive wins in the Group 3 JRA Plate at Randwick in April and in the Listed Gosford Cup in May confirmed Asterix’s above-average ability, which he put to good use in this latest run.
Spare a thought for the connections of the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained Pounding, a 67-race veteran who has long been in search of what would be a ninth career win.
The seven-year-old has finished in second place in four of his last five starts … those runner-up finishes coming in the Listed Mornington Cup and the Listed Andrew Ramsden Stakes … in the Group 2 The Q22 … and then in Saturday’s Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup.
Etna Rosso and Prince Levi finished third and fourth in the Tattersall’s Cup where the $3 race favourite Future History, according to leading Aussie betting sites, after leading a long way, finished tailed off after Nash Rawiller became concerned about the gelding’s action and elected not to place Future History under pressure over the closing stages.
