It's been a long time since the 2022 Victoria Derby and some may have wondered whether the winner Manzoice was ever going to win again!
Manzoice made a welcome return to winning form in Saturday’s Gr.3 Tattersall’s Cup (2400m) at Eagle Farm may earn him a return to that big stage.
The son of Almanzor ventured to Melbourne and won the Victoria Derby (2500m) in the spring of 2022. He had gone winless through the two and a half years since that classic triumph, but has been a regular placegetter since then including in the Gr.3 N E Manion Cup (2400m), the Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m), the Listed Wyong Cup (2100m), the Gr.3 Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) and a last-start third in the Gr.3 Brisbane Cup (3200m).
On Saturday he broke through for a richly deserved win, finishing powerfully from off the pace to score a commanding win by four and a half lengths.
“When I watched his replays, I thought he might have been the forgotten horse in this race,” jockey Andrew Mallyon said. “He was always there or thereabouts without winning against some top stayers.
“He’s a nice, relaxed customer and I knew he would stay the trip comfortably, so we just bided our time and when he got the split in the straight, he gave them a galloping lesson.
“I love the way he settled and he built really nicely into the race from about the 600m mark. He was really strong through the line, and you’d like to think he’ll be pretty competitive in some spring staying races judging by that performance.”
The Chris Waller-trained Manzoice has now had 32 starts for three wins, eight placings and more than A$1.84 million in stakes.
“He was very good today,” Waller’s assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said. “We thought he might be able to roll into the race and make it a staying test, but Andrew cut the corner and saved all the ground, and the horse was good late. It’s been a long time between drinks, but I’m sure his owners will be delighted.
“He’s a legend to have a stable, he’s such a lovely horse and it was great to see him have plenty of zip at the end of the race.
“He deserves a spell now, then we’ll have a think about what we do with him in the spring. He’s proven over two miles and there’s a pretty big two-mile race in Melbourne in early November, so we might have to have a crack at that.”
Manzoice was bought for A$340,000 by Chris Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock as a yearling. He was bred by the Blenheim-based Stephanie Hole and is out of the Mastercraftsman mare Choice, a winner of the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) for New Plymouth trainer Robbie Patterson. Choice is the dam of five winners from five foals to race. – NZ Racing Desk.
