When Flash Aah stormed home to win the Listed Ipswich Cup, it was a case of perseverance being rewarded, not only for winning trainer Troy Pascoe, but for the horse itself.
If Flash Aah could talk, the nine-year-old would probably say he didn’t know whether he was coming or going for much of his career … and yet here he was arriving in style.
The back story has many twists and turns … quite literally … with the son of Lucas Cranach having changed stables on no less than nine occasions, including twice bouncing back to trainers he had been with before … from the Sunshine Coast to Townsville to Brisbane to Sydney to Ballina to Dalby to Cranbourne, back to Townsville, back to Brisbane and then, finally, to Toowoomba where Troy Pascoe became the eighth trainer to take on the management of Flash Aah’s now forty-seven race career.
The Ipswich Cup was Flash Aah’s fifth race under Pascoe’s care and it came at the targeted end of a well-orchestrated game-plan through those five races which saw Pascoe increase Flash Aah’s distance test from 1200m to 1350m, then 1300m, to 1800m before going all the way up to the 2150m of the Ipswich Cup … a distance which he clearly relished under an astute ride from Ronnie Stewart.
The results during these five races also showed progressive, positive progress with Flash Aah finishing eleventh, sixth, fourth and third before pouncing in the Ipswich Cup, a run which speaks volumes for the work Pascoe has done with Flash Aah … improving nine-year-olds are hard to find.
Add in the fact that Flash Aah’s last win before this Ipswich Cup success came as far back as April 2, 2022, and it puts the merit of his performance in greater perspective.
Flash Aah was mostly unwanted in the betting in the Ipswich Cup. He did shorten from $41 to a starting price of $31, but that still translated to a boilover result as far as most punters were concerned.
“I was blown away by the price. I couldn’t believe it,” said Pascoe. He’s been terribly unlucky this prep. Every start he’d had they have just walked and made it impossible for him to run home.
“I never lost faith in him. I kept on saying this is the race I wanted to get him in. I thought he could win it. I know it’s been a long time since his last win … I wasn’t counting, but I knew every day was also a day closer to his next win.
“My staff have done an amazing job. He ran third in this race four years ago … (for trainer Mitchell Fry and jockey Maddy Wishart, when beaten by half-a-length) … and to come back and win it as a nine-year-old … rising ten … they should take a bow.”
So too should Pascoe himself, of course, and huge credit must go to Ronnie Stewart as well for a top-class ride.
It was an all around team effort with a very happy ending.
