In hindsight, Pride Of Jenni and Jamie Kah might have been better spending the weekend in Melbourne.
By avoiding The Everest meeting at Randwick they would have avoided a day of disappointment.
Strapper Sammie Waters, owner Tony Ottobre and jockey Declan Bates will be at Moonee Valley on Saturday for the Cox Plate.Credit: Getty Images
Kah headed north to ride three-year-old colt Traffic Warden in the $20 million mega-sprint race only for her horse to be scratched in the seconds before they jumped.
In contrast, Pride Of Jenni started and finished second in the $5 million King Charles Stakes, but her colourful owner Tony Ottobre was left bemused after the event.
In the post-race wash-up, the emotional Ottobre queried whether a rival jockey’s tactics in the race had cost his front-running super mare the winner’s cheque. First past the post earned $2.95 million, while the runner-up got $850,000.
Ottobre had a point. Adam Hyeronimus, on 100-1 shot Major Beel, kept $2.70 favourite Pride Of Jenni 10-wide for the first 500 metres of the straight of the 1600m race, even veering out slightly at one stage, before she could cross for the lead.
Major Beel and Pride Of Jenni stay wide of the field in the first 500m of the 1600m King Charles Stakes.Credit: Racing NSW
Pride Of Jenni felt the pinch in the last 100m and was collared by winner Ceolwulf just 50m from the line. Major Beel finished second last.
Ottobre asked Racing NSW stewards whether the “tactics were designed to particularly impede the chances of Pride Of Jenni?”. He had every right to ask.
Stewards questioned Hyeronimus and Pride Of Jenni’s jockey Declan Bates and ultimately found that no rules of racing had been breached. Not all punters agreed.
If Adam Hyeronimus’ riding tactics annoyed the Pride Of Jenni camp, his post-race comments would have provided little consolation.
“The plan was to be a little bit cheeky, and we were,” he said of Major Beel’s run. “The horse has gone really well. He has actually gone really........