South Australian raider Waging War has picked up a healthy cheque for his connections with an impressive win at Caulfield.
Waging War took out Saturday’s $250,000 VOBIS Gold Mile for his South Australian trainers Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas.
Ridden by apprentice Ben Allen, Waging War ($8.50) was sent out the second longest price in the seven-horse field before scoring a three-length win over the $3.50 favourite Widgee Turf with Sword Of Light ($4.40) 1-1/4 lengths away third.
Neither Macdonald nor Gluyas were at Caulfield on Saturday with the visitor saddled up by Caulfield trainer Andrew Noblet, who ran Macdonald’s Melbourne stable last decade.
Noblet said Macdonald thought Waging War was up to running a good race but held concerns over the set-weights.
“He’d been going good over in Adelaide but he (Leon) was a bit worried about the weight and how they were set up,” Noblet said.
“If it was a handicap he would have been weighted a lot better.
“He arrived here on Thursday morning and travelled over well and I said to Leon that he was feeling really good this morning.”
Racing Victoria stewards reviewed the start of the race to see whether twice banned So Si Bon was up to his old tricks of biting rival runners.
Chief steward Terry Bailey said stewards couldn’t clearly ascertain whether the four-year-old had tried to bite jockey Craig Williams.
So Si Bon was banned last November and again after the Newmarket Handicap in March after biting former stablemate Missrock.
“He hasn’t been barred again but it’s going on his report card,” Bailey said.
