Montauk reeled in last year's Summer Cup winner Red Excitement
Renowned country jockey Mathew Cahill has revealed he had a leg-up before Montauk became his first stakes winner at Randwick for more than a decade.
The 50-year-old produced a well-timed ride to prevent Red Excitement winning back-to-back Group Three Summer Cups on Tuesday and promptly shared the credit with fellow rider Glyn Schofield.
“Glyn told me not to annoy him too much , I didn’t do that and he’s done the rest,” Cahill said.
Cahill, who rode Black Ink to win The Shorts at Randwick in the spring of 2005, had only ridden Montauk once in a barrier trial before the 2000m-feature so the insight was appreciated.
“Glyn said the horse has got ability. Don’t bash him, let him do his own thing,” Cahill said.
Trainer Chris Waller’s racing manager Charlie Duckworth agreed advice from Schofield, who did not have a ride in the race, was vital after Montauk recorded his second win of the year.
“I thought he was beautifully ridden. Mathew was given some advice from Glyn and Brenton (Avdulla) who obviously know the horse really well,” he said.
“They said he needed to be cuddled as long as you dare and he managed to near enough cuddle him all the way over the line.”
Montauk, who now has six wins from 36 starts, reeled in last year’s Summer Cup winner Red Excitement ($5.50) and Avdulla at the 100 to win by half a length.
Testashadow ($6) unleashed late to take third, a long neck further back.
Duckworth said Montauk would now head for a break after his 16th run of 2017.
“That was his Derby. He’s a tough performer. He just doesn’t win very often so it’s good to get a Group race to his name.
“He’s the kind of horse that needs his confidence up. He’s rock-hard fit and the track is a little bit softer than official good 4 rating and that helped.”
Intuition ($3.40) also extended his winning sequence to three for Godolphin by sneaking a tight finish to to the #theraces Handicap (1200m) by a nose over Star Galaxy ($4.60).
“He was very brave and he just tries so hard. He looked in a lot of trouble on the home corner,” Godolphin assistant trainer Darren Beadman said.
“I thought they’d really taken him out of his comfort zone but he’s a very determined horse and he’s always had a touch of brilliance about him,” he said.
