Jokers Grin swoops for local win in The Quokka
The Quokka (1200m) will stay in West Australia for the first time since its inception after Jokers Grin (Maschino) gave his trainer Bernie Miller and jockey Patrick Carbery their biggest victories in the $5 million feature at Ascot.
In adding the lucrative sprint feature to his burgeoning record, the four-year-old Maschino (Encosta De Lago) gelding now boasts seven wins from ten starts and over $2.4 million in prize-money.
Miller, who was celebrating his 68th win, said: “Honestly, there’s so many people to thank. I’ll wake up tomorrow and still won’t be able to talk to you about it, but it’s just a dream come true.
“We went back to Belmont last Saturday and Patty [Carbery] said his work was just off the charts. That gave me a lot of positives about what I was doing was right. Kept on doing that and didn’t change anything.
“I think it was about the 150-metre mark [when I thought he could win]. The thrill of just watching him go past me, that was just tremendous.”
Carbery took the gelding to the rear of the field from barrier 13 and had plenty to do approaching the home turn, which the pair came around widest of all before Jokers Grin proceeded to mow down his rivals with 200 metres to go.
He scored a narrow victory on the line by 0.2 lengths over Sydney raider Headwall (Dream Ahead), with fellow local Generosity (Divine Prophet) another 0.4 lengths back in third.
“He dug deep, that’s the best thing I’ve ever done in racing for sure,” Carbery said.
“Whatever happened today, you know that he’s still on the way up, he’s still maturing. I know a lot of people say that, but that’s why Bernie’s taking so much time with him.
“You guys get a buzz out of watching, but what I can feel on this horse is amazing.”
Miller hinted that Jokers Grin will now head for a spell and be aimed toward The Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) during The Pinnacles at Ascot later this year.
Meanwhile at Ascot, Karrakatta Plate (Gr 2, 1200m) honours went to Talkanco (2 f I’m All The Talk – Calianco by California Dane), who backed up her last-start Group 3 win in the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) to take out the Group 2 contest at her fifth start.
The Daniel and Ben Pearce-trained juvenile ran out the 0.8-length winner over stakes-placed colt Just Too Fly (Justify), with Snitzalatte (Snitzel) another 0.6 lengths back in third.