He drew the car park in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill two weeks ago and never saw the fence, but Godolphin galloper Vilana ($4.80F) has bounced back to win the $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
Given a peach of a steer by Nash Rawiller, the four-year-old entire proved too strong at the finish by a neck over a brave In The Congo ($6), with the winner’s stablemate Gravina ($17) a further length and a quarter back in third.
In The Congo had led from the outset and staved off Apache Chase, who had been pestering him the entire trip. Vilana then loomed up, and managed to finally get over the top of him in the final stages.
Rawiller was full of praise for the Hallowed Crown progeny, and felt his charger had genuine excuses last time out.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in the horse from what he showed me in previous rides,” Rawiller said.
“Unless you watch the steward’s replay you wouldn’t really know what he encountered in the Golden Eagle.
“Today he just used his natural speed to get across in a lovely spot, and I knew he’d relax once he got there.
“In the Congo is tough. It felt like we were going to beat it by a length, but he just kept coming with me. But he’s a lot of class my bloke, he’s on the way up.”
Godolphin stable representative Darren Beadman was happy he had the right jockey on board, and believes his campaign up north last preparation may have been the making of him.
“You’re always confident when it’s going to be a tight finish that Nash is going to get the best out of them,” Beadman said.
“He’s been a model of consistency, the trip away to Brisbane just did him the world of good. He really matured, it made him stand up and take notice.
“The team have placed him to perfection this preparation and it was wonderful to see the way he knuckled down and fought off a very very tough competitor in In The Congo.
“Full credit to Nash, it’s been a remarkable carnival.”
