Corey Brown says he has never felt a horse accelerate like Philosophy did to take out the final race of the Sydney season.
The Melbourne Cup and two-time Sydney Cup winner says he got the Godolphin-owned second favourite to the front too soon on Saturday but she “just exploded” 500m from home.
“She went from first to third gear within four strides,” the jockey said after holding off $5 favourite Awoke to win by half a neck in the Racehorse Owner Association Trophy (1500m).
“I’ve never felt like that – the acceleration.”
The win, coupled with an earlier victory on Vaucluse Bay, handed Brown a handy city double to finish the season before he jets off on Sunday to walk the Kokoda Track for charity.
The Robert and Luke Price-trained Elouera was not put off her game by a $101 price, finishing quickly to grab third place half a length adrift of Awoke.
James Cummings said the stable’s patience with the $6 winner had been rewarded with the four-year-old’s first Saturday city win after seven starts.
“She really surged to the line and I was really proud of her efforts,” the Philosophy trainer said.
“If she can keep incrementally going through her grades, we’d be pretty happy with that.”
Awoke’s rider, Brenton Avdulla, finished second for the third time in the day to finish a successful metropolitan season with no wins.
But he was no doubts his mount could properly challenge Philosophy.
“We drew level at the 200 but he was just too strong for me,” he said.
