PRIDE OF JENNI COURAGEOUS IN DEFEAT

While Light Infantry Man put his name in the history books as the ninth horse to win a second Australian Cup, his win was overshadowed by the extraordinary effort of the runner-up Pride Of Jenni.

Invariably, Pride Of Jenni is the talking point whenever she races, but this time it was for her gallantry in holding down second place.

Pride Of Jenni took up her usual front-running position, but even her jockey Declan Bates thought she was in trouble with 300m to go.

Then, with 200 metres to go, Birdman raced up to her and looked like going straight past her, but she shrugged off that challenge, only for Light Infantry Man to emerge.

The pair then fought the race out to the line and the judge took several minutes to declare he had found a nose margin for Light Infantry Man.

Bates said he was slightly confused as he thought he had beaten off Birdman, but then Light Infantry Man, who raced in the same colours, emerged on his outside.

Bates said he had never ridden a horse in that fashion before who kept responding.

“She’s a warrior. I don’t think I have ever asked of a horse what I asked of her today,” Bates said.

“I really asked her to extend quite early and she responded so gallantly. Frustrating not to win, obviously, but I am delighted for Harry (Coffey). I’m really happy with my horse.”

Even Coffey said he thought he was going to win easily when he ranged up on the outside of Pride Of Jenni.

“ I got on terms with her and I thought I was going to beat her easily. What a racehorse, she fought hard. I actually thought that Dec may have beaten me, so I went early with the knuckles to him,” Coffey said.

Ciaron Maher didn’t quite know what to say after he had trained the quinella.

He pointed out that Light Infantry Man needed Pride Of Jenni to free wheel and set a fast tempo for him to show his best.

“ It’s such a shame for Jenni to run second again. I know for Tony (Ottobre), it’s a race he holds very dear to his heart,” Maher said.

“She was phenomenal. She’s racing in great heart and you never know, we may be back here with her next year.”

“I thought it was going to be a spectacular race and to be fighting it out with two of your own, it’s pretty cool.”

BEATEN JOCKEYS

Declan Bates (Pride Of Jenni, 2nd): “She’s a warrior. I don’t think I have ever asked of a horse what I asked of her today. I really asked her to extend quite early and she responded so gallantly. Frustrating not to win, obviously, but I am delighted for Harry. I’m really happy with my horse.”
William Pike (Apulia, 3rd): “He ran really well. He gave me a good sight when we came to the side. He kicked well in the straight but it is just that gruelling test of attrition that caught us late but he did really well.”

Beau Mertens (Sabaj, 4th): “He was terrific. He really stamped his mark against weight-for-age horses but he has done a great job considering the brutal tempo that Jenni provides and he is a horse going to the next level.”

Ben Melham (Birdman, 5th): “He travelled really well throughout. When I let him off the bridle in the ground, he struggled in it.”

Damian Lane (Leica Lucy, 6th): “Just lacked genuine tempo.”

Craig Williams (Tom Kitten, 7th): “He presented well from the outside draw. He gave me a beautiful ride throughout but the Jenni tempo, I made a 300-metre run on him to keep him up with the way the race changed from the 800m mark. That was my 300-metres and when I got to the 400, he was gassed out and had nothing left. He did a good job to run the last 400 on empty.”

Jye McNeil (Basilinna, 8th): “I thought it was a really honest run for something softer.”

Daniel Stackhouse (Philia,9th): “I just think she’s come to the end of her preparation. She had a lovely run in transit but they just came on to push her a long way out.”

Jamie Melham (Damask Rose, 10th): “She has pulled up quite sore today.”

Lachlan Neindorf (Mark Twain, 11th): “Got on the back of the horse I wanted to in Sabaj who was on the back of Apulia. We got a nice cart up into it. Sabaj ran on and our fella didn’t. Maybe third-up, back on top of the track and back in class, we’ll see what he does then.”

Jordan Childs (Just Fine, 12th): “I had to do the lead-up work to Pride Of Jenni and she just broke them in the end.”