Now training alongside Katherine Coleman, Peter Moody has won the Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) for a second time – some 14 years after the great Black Caviar won the race back in 2012.
Luke Nolen was aboard for both wins and while Black Caviar’s 1.3 length victory was close by her lofty standards, the win of Desert Lightning took a while to be confirmed as the Morphettville crowd held its breath.
In the end, it was the six-year-old gelding and $18 outsider who held off the fast-finishing favourite Extragalactic ($3.50) to score by a half head, with half a length back to Grand Larceny ($17) in third.
Having once run in a New Zealand Derby over 2400m, Desert Lightning has mainly plied his Australian trade over 1400-1600m, but Coleman said the horse has done so well with his races spaced and the freshness in his legs.
“He’s so quirky, he’s got so much character,” Coleman said.
“He’s an older gelding, normally, they’re the quiet ones that know their job and they don’t cause too much fuss.
“Well, he carries on out there like a two-year-old, a cult most mornings and upsets other horses on the track and bounces around the stable.
“We thought he was going to be a horse that would stretch out over ground as well, but he just seems he’s best when he’s fresh and happy and bouncing, and that’s how he is today, so it’s great and a fantastic ride from Luke Nolen as well.”
Nolen settled in the second half of the field and came to the better ground wide in the straight, barely holding the lead for more then a stride on the line as Extragalactic flew home to just miss what would have been a maiden Group One for Trent Edmonds and Luke Cartwright.
“That drone kept following me around everywhere,” Nolen said.
“I thought, oh, it must be a bloody chance.
“Lukey Cartwright, he does a bit of work for Moody. He’s a great little kid, his time is going to come, he’s at the start of his career, I’m a long way towards the end of mine.
“So I’m getting every one of these good races I can before we knock up time.”
“The horse has been going really well, so I think the next port of call is Queensland for another go at the Stradbroke.
“He sprinted well then on soft ground, there’s a lot of options for him, so I’ll leave it in the camp’s capable hands the way he goes off the back of it, but I’ll be joining him wherever he goes.”