Trainer Steve Tregea’s gamble in taking blinkers off the race day gear of Bergerac has paid off, with the gelding winning the $175,000 Ipswich Cup.
Apprentice Michael Murphy had a welcome change of luck and followed instruction to perfection to guide Bergerac ($5.50) to a 1-1/4 lengths win over Sampson ($20) with a length to the unlucky Fighting Teo ($3.80) in third.
Bergerac and Murphy combined to win the Brisbane Handicap in the summer but Bergerac’s form had been not as strong since.
However Tregea said there had been excuses in each of Bergerac’s previous three defeats.
“He wanted to over race when well beaten in the Wayne Wilson Mile at Eagle Farm the previous Saturday but I have been keen to get him out to a middle distance and I felt if I took the blinkers off it would help him,” Tregea said.
“He settled a lot better today. I told Michael to be up in the lead on the first turn and he did just that.”
“I am really happy for Michael as he has had a few problems with his weight lately but he does ride very well.”
Tregea said he had planned to take Bergerac to Rockhampton for the Cup later this month.
“But he might get too much weight now and we will have to see what the other options will be. I suppose the handicapper holds the key,” he added.
It was Murphy’s biggest win and he hopes it will help boost his career.
“I got into a lovely position and when they started to run along a bit I was still travelling well,” he said.
Murphy is the first apprentice since Luke Tarrant on Danchai in 2015 to win the Ipswich Cup.
Mark De Plessis was very happy with the run of second placed Sampson who made a long run from the 1000m.
“It was no use sitting where I was out deep so I had no choice but to go forward. It was a good run,” he said.
Tarrant, who rode Fighting Teo, said he should have finished closer.
“We got shuffled back on the fence and then I had to come through them,” he said.
Fighting Teo will now head to the Caloundra Cup in a fortnight.
