Adelaide raider Tradewind has emulated his sire Trust In A Gust by winning the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in a boilover.
In taking out the 1400 metre race for three-year-olds, Tradewind, a member of Trust In A Gust’s first crop, gave the Swettenham Stud-based stallion his best winner from a handful of runners.
His trainer Ryan Balfour said he thought Shelby Cobra would be hard to beat but he had a big opinion of Tradewind so he wasn’t surprised by his performance.
Balfour could not be on course because of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Adelaide.
He said Tradewind had been floated to Victorian trainer Patrick Payne’s Rockbank property earlier in the week and had thrived since being there.
Balfour described Tradewind as a leggy horse who had lots of improvement to come and anticipated he would be a regular visitor to Victoria as he was VOBIS (Victorian Owner and Breeders Incentive Scheme) qualified.
Tradewind was an $18,000 purchase by Balfour at the Adelaide Magic Millions sales.
The horse gave Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Jye McNeil the second leg of an early double after he took out the second race on Blandford Lad.
Tradewind ($31) defeated Sirileo Miss ($5.50) by a short neck with Super Yulong ($14) a length away third.
The shock of the race was the performance of the $1.65 favourite Shelby Cobra who was the first horse beaten and finished second last.
His jockey Mark Zahra said Shelby Cobra raced upside down and may have had enough.
He felt he over-raced early and when he finally relaxed, Craig Williams on Sirileo Miss went around the field and set the race alight again.
Trainer Mike Moroney was equally disappointed in Shelby Cobra’s performance.
“I think he might have just come to the end of his preparation now and that will do him,” Moroney said.
