With Jamie Kah injured earlier in the day, Dean Holland picked up the ride on In Secret in the $1,500,000 Yulong Stud Newmarket Hcp (1200m) at Flemington and made the most of it.
With the field spread the width of the Flemington straight, the 3yo daughter of I Am Invincible displayed a brilliant turn of foot to defeat fellow 3yo Lofty Strike (Snitzel) by a length with a short-neck back to the 4yo Savabeel gelding I Wish I Win in third.
The Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner over the same course and distance last spring, In Secret advances her record to six wins, two seconds, and a third from nine starts with earnings of $2,776,100.
“First and foremost, the hardest thing to do is remove the emotion from it because we really feel for Jamie, and we hope she’s alright, which is the most important thing,” James Cummings said.
“Then you’ve got to press on, and it’s business and find who is available at 51.5 (kilos), and it’s not an easy thing because the Victorian limit weights have raised to 54 and it’s pretty rare for riders to regularly be available to ride at such a light weight.”
“Dean Holland is the kind of guy that has been there to ride for the Hawkeses at 47 in a Lightning on a two-year-old and he’s ridden light his whole life.
“He came to the fore from the jockeys’ room and I said Dean, ‘will you ride my filly for me in the Newmarket?’, and I said, I think I can make myself available’.
“So we went through the ride for the next 25 minutes, and I showed him the replays and I showed him Dominic Beirne’s map. He’s a pretty bullish guy, he didn’t seem phased at all for any minute with me and he rode her accordingly.
“I’ve got to give him credit for filling big shoes there and doing the job.
“Didn’t she just explode through the gap? We were confident we had her perfect, but she just exploded through the gap when it came and was upon them from second last in the run.
“It was a proper Newmarket and with 51.5 we just didn’t see when she was at her best and had clear running how they might beat her.
“She’s proven to be absolutely top-shelf again. She’s two from three this preparation and she can head straight to the TJ (Smith Stakes) in three weeks and look like not only a competitive chance but a big force in that feature.
“With 51.5 he (Holland) was able to just make a tiny bit more use of her earlier and she was just able to descend upon them and demonstrate her dominance.
“She steps up to weight-for-age in three weeks and the best sprinters in the country, but she’s a very, very good horse and we’re grateful as a team to have her.
“For his Highness Sheikh Mohammed to win another Newmarket here - the second in the last four years - is a big result.”
Consigned by Segenhoe Stud to the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, In Secret was hammered down to Godolphin for $900,000.
Segenhoe bred In Secret in association with Michael Christian of Longwood Thoroughbred Farm.
Christian and his wife Siobhan Miller bred In Secret's dam Group III winning dam Eloping through their Saconi Thoroughbreds.
Longwood Thoroughbred Farm sold the current two-year-old from Eloping, a filly by Trapeze Artist named Comeau, for $200,000 at Inglis Premier to Mick Price Racing and Breeding.
The $1.2 million earner Eloping has a yearling filly by Snitzel that sold for $325,000 at Inglis Premier earlier this week and foaled a sister to In Secret last September. She was covered by I Am Invincible again last spring.
