Touristic too good in Lord Mayors Cup
Imported gelding Touristic relished the heavy conditions at Rosehill on Saturday to record his first victory in almost a year in the Lord Mayors Cup.
Bringing up a winning double of the program for rider Andrew Adkins, the Peter Snowden-trained son of Frankel jumped as a $9 chance in the 2000-metre feature on a Heavy 8-rated surface and drew clear of his rivals to win in fine fashion.
“I thought the main thing for him today was to begin well, which he’s not really known for,” Adkins said.
“That was one box ticked early on and I just wanted to have the most economical run as I could, and that was another box ticked. He had a fluent run from the 600m so he was always going to be strong late. He’s been crying out for a track like that, rain affected, and he got that today as a fit horse.
“I knew he would love that track, which he did. He was a fit horse so he was never going to stop.”
Despite being winless since June last year, Snowden’s assistant trainer Aaron Lau felt Touristic had shown the right signs since his last-start fourth in the Gosford Cup (Listed, 2100m) to merit a good performance on Saturday.
“He drew a nice alley today, we know he gets around Rosehill well and just the way he’s been in the last couple of weeks, he was really well within himself so we knew he was ready to run a big race,” Lau said. “He obviously excels on soft ground and heavy ground. He’s been running well without winning.
“We obviously saw him run a close fourth over the carnival in the Neville Sellwood over the course and distance and it was a similar track that day as well. He’s fairly deep into a preparation but he comes through each run in good order. Going forward, we’ll see how he comes through it but there’s a couple of options in the new few weeks for him.”