Berkeley Square bags back-to-back Ballarat Cups
Local hope Berkeley Square (Territories) pushed his winnings past the $2 million mark when going back-to-back in the $500,000 Ballarat Cup (Listed, 2000m) on Saturday.
Ridden superbly by veteran Luke Nolen and appreciating the return of a set of blinkers, the six-year-old gelding settled last from gate 13 of 14, while a solid pace was set by Air Assault (Justify) over $3.90 favourite Saint George (Roaring Lion).
Nolen set off from the 700 metres and brought Berkeley Square as the widest runner around the home turn, and the Dan O’Sullivan–trained gelding came home powerfully on his home track to score by 2.75 lengths.
It was a win which again showed Ballarat’s “horses for courses” nature, with those with form on its uphill straight seen to advantage.
Berkeley Square in fact hadn’t won a race in nine attempts since his last appearance at the track – winning last year’s Ballarat Cup – when apprentice Jaylah Kennedy stepped in for an injured Nolen and produced a 0.3 length victory.
Nolen in turn took the reins from the injured Kennedy this time around.
The target of some support in starting at $9, Berkeley Square won from Anthony and Sam Freedman’s Cadmus (Gleneagles) at $71, with Emma-Lee and David Browne’s Statuario (D’Argento) third at $14. Saint George ran sixth.
Berkeley Square had been close up on a couple of occasions since his victory in this race last year, including his only placing in the stretch when third in October’s Geelong Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) and a fourth the start before in Flemington’s The Bart Cummings (Gr 3, 2520m).
But after a month-long freshen-up and a drop in distance since his fifth in the VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 3, 2600m), the gelding looked ultra impressive in a ninth career win from 36 outings.
In lifting back-to-back Ballarat Cups, he emulated the effort of Kiwia (Reset) in 2018 and 2019, the first multiple winner of the race in almost 40 years.
Bred and retained by South Australian breeding byword David Peacock, who heads his large ownership syndicate, Berkeley Square took his earnings to $2.08 million with a victory his trainer said superseded last year’s.
“He’s just a bloody good horse,” O’Sullivan said of Berkeley Square, now a four-time stakes winner with a peak of the Moonee Valley Vase (Gr 2, 2040m) in 2022.
“Not that he was under pressure, but it’s good to see him do it. To win so comfortably like that was just really really good.”
O’Sullivan said he’d been reluctant to put the blinkers back on Berkeley Square for some time, but noted they had “worked perfectly” on Saturday.
“I was very paranoid about him settling,” he told Racing.com. “He jumped a bit slow, which he can do. I was pleased to see [Saint George] go forward and apply a bit of pressure to Air Assault.
“We knew he’d be strong late in the race, and to see him win by two lengths like that was great.”
Nolen said on the previous two occasions Berkeley Square had worn blinkers, he “didn’t get cover and didn’t get a chance to rest”.
This time, he enjoyed a quiet run at the back before Nolen tacked on in a three-wide running line.
“When the change-up came, I had a lot to do still, but I hadn’t spent a cent and he just got stronger into it,” he said. “I thought they’d come back to me, but he was surging at them, and it was a very strong win.
“I was just trying to get my part of the race right. Most of the horses that were probably going to be dragging me into the race were going to be forward of me. I took my medicine and the race turned out well for me in the end.
“He [O’Sullivan] has done an excellent job. The horse had been running well. He was great in the Geelong Cup but he’s peaked him on this day.
“After the Queen Elizabeth, Dan just said we’ll back off and we’ll target this race in a month’s time. He grows an extra leg on this track too.”
Berkeley Square is one of three stakes winners from Peacock’s mare Bahamas (Teofilo), who won a Werribee maiden among seven starts and was four-times city placed.
Bahamas is also the dam of the outstanding Angel Capital (Harry Angel), also a four-time stakes winner, and of Senor Toba (Toranado), who won a Sydney Group 3 and ran second in the 2021 Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) before going on to Hong Kong, where he’s won another two Group 3 races and run a Group 1 third over 2400 metres.
Bahamas now has a yearling colt by Blue Point (Shamardal) and missed to Harry Angel (Dark Angel) this year.
Berkeley Square is one of three Australians stakes winners for Territories (Invincible Spirit), who shuttled to the country for Darley five times until 2021. The 13-year-old has 19 stakes winners worldwide from 549 runners at 3.4 per cent.