Veteran jockey Jeff Lloyd has produced a top ride to rekindle his long-term friendship with trainer Darren Beadman and win the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic at Ipswich.
Lloyd rode Maternal, who landed a $4 to $2.90 betting move, when she beat her stablemate Kinshachi ($5) by a long head on Saturday.
Banda Spice ($14) flew home to run third.
Maternal drew an outside barrier but Lloyd had her across on the pace in the first 400m and proved too strong in the straight.
Beadman said he and Lloyd went back to their days in Hong Kong a decade ago, when both rode for John Moore.
“Jeff rode the light weights and I had the heavier horses. We have been mates for years,” Beadman said.
It was a great day for Beadman and Godolphin, which had an earlier win with Revenire in the two-year-old race.
“I rode for Gai for years and to win a race in her honour was a great thrill,” Beadman said.
“The plan was to let her roll forward as that is the way she races best. She won on the pace two runs back and then last start couldn’t get into the race.”
Beadman, who hands over the Godolphin team to James Cummings on July 8, will decide early next week whether to press on to the Group One Tatts Tiara next Saturday with the mares.
