The aptly named Itsa Fait Accompli has played his part to give his trainer, jockey and owner an overdue metropolitan win at Rosehill in the Highway Handicap.
The three-year-old is trained at Gundagai by David Blundell who rarely brings horses to town, nowadays, after enjoying city success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with horses such as Zoregal, winner of the 2000 Winter Stakes.
For jockey Blake Spriggs, Saturday’s win was his first in town since he returned in May from breaking a kneecap.
And although the win was a long way from the deeds of his sprint star Show County, part-owner and long-time racing administrator and enthusiast Mick Doyle was thrilled to be collecting the sash.
One of few events over a distance in the Highway series for country-trained horses, Saturday’s 1800m event suited Itsa Fait Acompli ($8) who took the lead in the straight and stamped his authority over Last Try Wins ($18) to win by three-quarters of a length, with Barbass ($4.20 fav) third.
“I’ve always had a couple of horses with David over the years,” Doyle said.
“But now I’ve gone from having hundreds of horses to not many, so it’s good to get a win.’
Blundell was doubling as the gelding’s strapper but stopped long enough to say Itsa Fait Accompli still had improvement.
“He’s an up-and-comer,” Blundell said.
“He’s very laid back but has a lot of talent.”
Spriggs and the other jockeys in the race wore black armbands to honour the memory of Donna Philpot, a former jockey who died in a trackwork accident at Bendigo last week.
“All of us in the jockeys’ room just wanted to show the family we support them,” Spriggs said.
