William Haggas has continued his incredible strikerate in Sydney, producing Lake Forest for an upset win in The Golden Eagle and in doing so becoming the first European trainer to triumph in the $10 million race.
Ridden by the UK-based Cieren Fallon, Lake Forest ($19) settled in the second half of the field and unleashed a whirlwind finish along the inside to burst through in the final bounds and deny French visitor Lazzat ($4.80) by a half-length, giving the European raiders a one-two finish.
Tom Kitten ($13) did best of the locals for third, another half-head away, while Stefi Magnetica ($11) was a luckless fifth after being severely checked inside the final 100m.
Haggas has now had 18 runners in Sydney for 10 winners, although while the likes of Addeybb and Dubai Honour have both been fancied, Lake Forest started at double-figure odds with betting apps.
“It is kind of nice, it takes the pressure off a little bit,” Haggas’ travelling foreperson Isabella Paul said of the horse’s odds.
“But you don’t bring them all down here if you don’t think they’ve got a chance. I actually said on the radio this morning I think he’s too big a price.”
Haggas was in Italy enjoying a short break but Paul said he was “over the moon”.
As for the stable’s success in choosing the right horses to bring to Australia, she added that was all on Haggas.
“That’s just down to the boss. He is a genius,” she said.
“We weren’t sure about this horse because he is only three and we like them to be a bit older, he is still a colt and we usually bring geldings down, but hopefully we can find a few more like him.”
Fallon rated the victory as one of his career highlights and said the race worked out exactly as they had planned.
“I thought if we used too much energy early on, we’d have been taking away our turn of foot, so I had to ride him quite brave and hope we got a bit of luck,” Fallon said.
“Obviously, my first time out here, to be able to be part of such a strong stable, obviously the boss has been sending horses out here for the last few years and they’ve been coming out on top. So I was very confident.
“But in terms of career, this probably would be up there.”
There was a dramatic postscript when Zac Lloyd on Stefi Magnetica fired in a protest against Antonio Orani on Lazzat, alleging interference over the final stages.
Stewards conceded the incident was costly for the Stradbroke Handicap winner but they couldn’t be certain she would have beaten the runner-up home and the objection was dismissed.
A second protest by Lazzat’s connections against the winner was quickly quashed.
Lloyd was adamant Stefi Magnetica should have played a role in the finish.
“She should have won,” Lloyd said.
Japanese filly Ascoli Piceno started a well-backed $3.10 favourite but was always well back from a wide draw and Joao Moreira said “she didn’t bring her very best”, while the remaining international runner, Corazon Beat, finished last.
