They were done in vastly different ways but Irish Black Label and Lightning Dan brought further Australian Pacing Gold delight to Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin’s dominant stable, sweeping tonight’s two-year-old Gold Bullion Group 1s.
Reinsman David Moran was in the sulky for both and they were also golden moments for some of Victoria’s most prolific owners and breeders, with Lauriston Bloodstock’s Anne and Bill Anderson producing the fillies’ champion and owner Danny Zavitsanos and breeder Benstud the champion colt.
“It’s been a big 12 months and another big night tonight, so very grateful and appreciative to the owners for respecting me and putting me on these horses,” reinsman Moran told Trots Vision.
“Danny puts a lot back into buying horses. He’s a great guy, very down to earth and couldn’t be more happy.
“(Bill and Anne) deserve everything they get. They put a lot of money back into the game and a lot of money into their breed, and they’ve got a great breed. They just keep finding them every year.
“I’m sure they will be disappointed they couldn’t be here tonight, but they will be watching from home. I’m sure Anne would have been screaming and they might even have a little champagne now.”
Both also look to have much more success in their paths after tonight’s performances.
Trainer Emma Stewart was a dominant force in the two-year-old fillies’ final, presenting six of the 10 starters and with front runners Playing Up and Fiamma setting a brisk early pace, following a 6.9-second lead time with a 28.4-second first quarter.
There was a price to pay the for early burn and it was Irish Black Label who emerged three-wide, stalking the leaders in a moderate 29.2-second third quarter before letting down in a sprint to the line, holding off fast finishing Petillante to win by 1.1 metres.
“She’s got a pretty bright future I’d imagine,” Moran said of the winner. “Tonight, the race was run pretty genuine for her early.
“They went 29 off the back, so we were able to not open her up along the back and really wait until they were three-quarters of the way around the turn, when we knew that Chris (Alford on Petillante) was probably the only danger and we had to make it a 200-metre dash. We had that margin on him, it was probably the winning difference.”
Notably Moran said Irish Black Label “gives you quite a similar feeling” to Ladies In Red, who was a dominant filly for Lauriston Bloodstock, Moran and Stewart in last year’s two-year-old season, before adding “Ladies In Red, I think at this stage, was probably a bit better”.
“She was one of those fillies you don’t come by very often. I think her and Tough Tilly will be horses in the future who will go a long way. Not saying this filly won’t whatsoever, she obviously has a hell of a lot of ability.”
It wasn’t long before Moran was back in the winners’ circle hugging another prized Australian Pacing Gold trophy, this time to celebrate Lightning Dan’s win in the Gold Bullion two-year-old colts and geldings’ final.
He was trainer Clayton Tonkin’s only runner on the night, but partner Emma Stewart had a further two in this race and they filled the placings, with Lightning Dan blazing past Khafaji and Beach Villa late to cause something of an upset.
Stewart’s pair looked anything but stablemates as Alford (Khafaji) and Kate Gath (Beach Villa) locked horns to try to be the first to the front from their back row draws.
From gate eight, Gath followed Lightning Dan through and awaited Brutally Handsome to advance past her on her outside so she could hook out and set out for the lead. Alford saw his opportunity and when a small window opened he pounced, racing Beach Villa to the top.
Once he arrived Moran was happy to cede the lead on Lightning Dan and lay in wait until the final sprint home, with Khafaji and Beach Villa trading blows throughout in a thrilling 57.2-second final half.
“There wasn’t a lot on the front row that I wanted to hand up to, so it was going to be one of big guns and Chris’s horse, if I could, I was hoping would be there before Kate and they gave you the run of the race when they were cutting each other in front,” Moran said.
“I thought if we were to hand up to Beach Villa we probably couldn’t beat him. The other horse was going to cop heat from Beach Villa, so it worked out perfect in the end.”
Lightning Dan crashed the line to claim the Group 1 and Moran’s optimistic there’s still a lot more improvement to come.
“He was pretty quick,” he said. “We left the plugs out of him tonight. Last week he proved he didn’t really want to do it too much. I think he’s probably a horse who’s going to come too in a little bit of time.
“The penny hasn’t dropped 100 per cent yet, as you saw last week when he got caught outside the leader and he wasn’t gone, he was just happy to go through the motions. We sparked him up a little bit tonight in the warm up and got him up on his toes and it was a perfect trip for him and he finished off well.”
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