The Peter Moody stable will look at backing up honest galloper Mr Make Believe in next Saturday’s $200,000 Winter Championship Final following his dominant win at Moonee Valley.
The Commands four-year-old has no points in the Winter Championship Series as he has not contested a heat but could still sneak into the field if the numbers fall away.
The grey was an emergency and missed a run in a 1400m heat at Flemington last Saturday and ran instead in Saturday’s Don Abell Cup (1514m).
Ridden by Luke Nolen, Mr Make Believe ($2.35 fav) led from Jungle Ruler and the pair opened up a good break on the rest of the field before Jungle Ruler began to feel the pinch on the home turn.
Mr Make Believe completed a hat-trick of metropolitan wins with a 1-3/4 length victory from topweight Philda ($6.50) with Diggersanddealers ($71) a short head away third.
The win gave Nolen a double in successive races having scored on the John Smerdon-trained Mythical Spirit ($7) in the Variety Bash Sprint.
“Luke rode him terrific. He took up the lead on him and controlled the race and they were flat out chasing him,” Moody’s stable manager Jeff O’Conner, standing in for the leading trainer who is currently holidaying with his family in Thailand, said.
“We’ve probably got to nominate him for the Winter Championship next week but he’d be unlikely to gain a run not having been in the heats.
“But it’s not the end of the world. There are other races like today’s for him.”
Mr Make Believe has now won seven of his 11 starts including five of eight this preparation.
Earlier, Jordan Mallyon won his second Travis Harrison Cup (1524m) for apprentices aboard the Max Hinton-trained Charlie’s Queen.
Mallyon, who claims two kilograms in the metropolitan area, was having his first ride on the five-year-old King Charlemagne mare who has now won twice at the Valley from three starts.
She had been placed at her past three starts at Flemington, Caulfield and Sandown before landing her first Saturday city win.
“She’s probably short of being a good horse but she’s managed to get herself to Saturday grade,” Shelley Hinton, the trainer’s wife, said.
“She’s honest as long as she gets off the rails.”
Sent out at $8, Charlie’s Queen settled seventh but quickly gathered in the leaders to score by three-quarters of a length from Jetta ($17) with Jalsah ($5) a head away third.
The mare has won four of her 28 starts and has been placed on 12 other occasions, including seven times in Melbourne.
AAP TURF
