Connections of Les Vampires have achieved their goal of qualifying the improving gelding for the Big Dance at Randwick on Melbourne Cup day courtesy of his runaway win in the Gosford Gold Cup.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott confirmed Saturday’s race was likely to be the final one of his preparation as they looked to target bigger stakes in the spring.
“I’m not sure how far we want to go now. We’ve got the ticket to the Big Dance and he is pretty deep into the campaign so we’ll be working back from having that feature somewhere in his program next time in,” Bott said.
“We’ve seen he can be effective early in the campaign, sharp over that trip and I think he’d be well placed in a race like that. Importantly, he’s qualified and there is some big money on offer so it’s got to be under consideration.”
The four-year-old, who placed in the 2024 Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m), missed last spring after undergoing throat surgery but has been racing consistently since his return.
Saturday’s Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) victory not only qualified him for the $3 million Big Dance (1600m) but gave him his first win at Listed level, coming 33 years after co-trainer Gai Waterhouse landed her maiden black-type success with Moods in the corresponding race.
Bott described Les Vampires as a “progressive type” and felt his win had added merit given Rachel King on Touristic made a dash around the field mid-race to put pressure on him.
However, Les Vampires ($2.90 betting fav) was good enough to respond under Winona Costin, pulling away at the finish to score by 1-1/4 lengths over Etna Rosso ($13) with Mr Waterville ($51) third.
“It has never been big margins but today he was really able to put them away well over this trip so it has opened up a few more options for him going forward,” Bott said.
Costin was thrilled to make the most of her opportunity aboard the four-year-old and said Les Vampires was strong right to the line.
“I was only just starting to slowly amp it up and doing things under my own terms when one (Touristic) whipped around us and it put me in a tricky spot,” Costin said.
“But credit to the horse, he had nice acceleration and I was able to kick up and hold it out and keep momentum going all the way to the line.”
