Gringotts spearheads Maher trifecta in Big Dance
Ciaron Maher further underlined his dominance of Sydney’s richest mile when Gringotts (Per Incanto) led home a stable trifecta in Tuesday’s $3 million Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick, 12 months after producing the quinella in the same race.
In a near carbon copy of 2024, Gringotts ($3 favourite) again proved too strong for stablemate Vivy Air (Hellbent), this time by 1.2 lengths, with the front-running Lugh (Snitzel) holding on for third a further 0.8 lengths away.
The win capped a patient training effort from Maher, who had originally set Gringotts for the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) before a setback altered plans.
“We knew he was qualified for the Big Dance so that was always a race that was at the back of our minds,” assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord said.
“But the King Charles was his main target. He had a couple of setbacks, a couple of bad bloods. Physically, the horse was always fine, but we didn’t want to risk him, and we got rewarded today.
“It’s a nice back-up option and that’s why we were never, ever worried. Even though we would’ve liked to get him to the King Charles, this is a lovely race to win.”
Carrying topweight of 62 kilograms, Gringotts was given a perfect trail by Nash Rawiller, who said he was confident after partnering the gelding to second in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) at his previous start.
“You can tell he’s a serious horse…when I let him rip, he was quite exciting,” Rawiller said. “I always felt like the winner and just the little idiosyncrasies I learned from the other day we were able to put into place today, and the horse was really explosive.”
Vivy Air and Lugh are among nominations for Saturday’s $2 million Five Diamonds (1800m) at Rosehill, with Gerard-Dubord confirming both are under consideration to back up.
Meanwhile, the cream also rose to the top in the $750,000 Little Dance (1600m), where Chris Waller’s Osipenko (Pierro) carried topweight to victory over Hollywood Hero (Sacred Falls) by 0.3 lengths.
Stable representative Zane Jones said it was a satisfying consolation for the Group 1 performer, who narrowly missed a Big Dance start. “He raced in it a few years ago and was very competitive so that looks the logical progression,” Jones said, confirming a likely tilt at The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange later this month.