Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Outstanding five-year-old Tricky Miki resumed after a nine-week absence in superb form with a thrilling victory in the $50,000 Lord Mayor’s Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night, after Maddison Brown’s plans for an all-the-way win were shattered when stablemate Jawsoflincoln surged to the front 300m after the start.
After a smart lead time of 35.2sec. Jawsoflincoln set a brisk pace with quarters of 29.4sec., 29.3sec., 27.8sec. and 28.6sec., with Minstrel, seeking his fifth win in a row, pacing strongly in the breeze, and with Tricky Miki under lock and key behind the pacemaker.
Brown retained her cool and was able to take an inside run in the home straight to get up and score a half-head victory over Minstrel, with Ideal Agent fighting on strongly to be third, ahead of the fast-finishing Mighty Ronaldo and the wilting Jawsoflincoln.
“The plan was to get out fast from the No. 1 barrier and then set the pace,” said the 28-year-old Brown. “I wanted to lead over the 2130m. If the race was over 2500m maybe things would be different.
“But Junior (Gary Hall Jnr) wanted to lead, and I had to be content to take the sit behind Jawsoflincoln. In the last lap Tricky Miki was overracing just a touch, which was him being a bit fresh, first-up.
“When initially I got the run through on the inside, I got a bit checked. But then I was able to get through and win.”
For Brown this was her twelfth victory in a group feature event, and it was the seventh feature triumph for Tricky Miki, following wins in the 2021 Golden Slipper, the Westbred Classic, the Western Gateway, the South-West Derby and WA Derby as a three-year-old and the Golden Nugget last December before ace Boyanup trainer Justin Prentice decided to freshen him up for a tilt at Friday night’s Group 3 event.
Prentice was not at Gloucester Park on Friday night. He was in New Zealand preparing to purchase yearling pacers at Sunday’s Karaka sales and the sales at Canterbury later in the week.
Prentice made a wise decision to outlay $57,500 to purchase Tricky Miki at the 2020 APG Perth yearling sale which he races in partnership with several stable clients. The Always B Miki gelding is proving a wonderful buy, and he now has amassed $511,431 in prizemoney from twelve wins and nine placings from 26 starts.
Tricky Miki, the $3.70 equal favourite with Ideal Agent in Friday night’s Cup, is out of the Modern Art mare Harriet Elisabeth, who won the Western Crown Classic as a two-year-old in March 2013 before being retired with earnings of $114,348 from eleven wins and nine placings from 36 starts.
Mistrel ($4.80) took a narrow lead about 30m from the post, and his splendid effort to finish second enhanced his prospects of contesting the $1,250,000 Nullarbor slot race on April 19.
Tricky Miki, Ideal Agent and Mighty Ronaldo also remain in contention for the Nullarbor.
Mighty Ronaldo, a stablemate of Tricky Miki, and a $19 chance, was most impressive in finishing fourth on Friday night. He was tenth at the bell before sustaining a powerful burst, out four and five wide.
“I thought Mighty Ronaldo produced the run of the race,” said driver Emily Suvaljko. “He came from way back, got pushed off the track and still finished strongly.”
Several of the runners in Friday night’s Cup will contest the Pinjarra Cup (March 4) and Bunbury Cup (March 30) as well as the $300,000 Retravision Fremantle Cup over 2936m on April 26.