What a day!
In front of a large contingent of his adoring owners trying not to melt in the heat, Irish Constabulary defied a wide barrier, top weight of 59kg, and a hip and shoulder at the 300m mark to demolish his rivals in the $250,000 Sky Thoroughbred Central Magic Millions Country Cup (1200m) on the Gold Coast.
With a patient but confident ride from Michael Hellyer, Irish settled 4th last with a fast pace on in front, and moved forward to swing the turn 5 lengths from the lead but 8-9 wide.
Completely disregarding a couple of bumps from a rival trying to move out, Irish unleashed a devastating sprint to charge away and win by over a length. And as the race caller David Fowler said “…but all of a sudden, Michael Hellyer went BANG with Irish Constabulary !….”
Irish Constabulary motors down the middle of the track to claim honours in the second event on #MagicMillions Raceday. pic.twitter.com/abogEbO1hs
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 14, 2017
Michael Hellyer paid tribute to his late father, who passed away 18 months ago, by pointing to the sky as he crossed the winning post, having promised him a big race day win.
Rapt co-trainer John Symons, heaped praise on everyone at Esprit Racing and all those who helped the horse get to the race, and indicated Irish would head towards Listed grade in the winter carnival.
“I’m very proud of the horse and the staff and everyone that has worked hard for this result,” Symons said.
“We’ll have a think about what we do now but there’s the option to spell him and look at something better during the winter.”
And that was when the fun began!
