Ciaron Maher and Dylan Gibbons have combined with Circle Of Fire (+250) to take out the Group 2 Chairman's Quality at Randwick, as the European import broke through for his first win on Australian soil and looks to be on track for the Group 1 Sydney Cup.
The son of Almanzor was well backed before the race and the four-year-old entire saluted in the final strides for his followers, as he nabbed Hopeful (+750) in the last 50m.
Considering that Double Cherry (+1100) led the field and ran the race at a sedate tempo, the run of the winner must be upgraded as he settled mid-field and was working four-wide around the home turn.
However, as soon as it looked as though Jason Collett has stolen the race on Hopeful, Gibbons got stuck into the winner and he let down with an explosive turn of foot down the middle of the track to wear down the leader late.
Double Cherry boxed on in the final 200m to hold onto third place, just ahead of So Dazzling (+1600) who ran home well into fourth, but all honours went to the winner, who could back up next Saturday in the Sydney Cup over 3200m.
Ciaron Maher spoke about the win of Circle Of Fire and Dylan Gibbons' ride post-race.
“Dylan's got a pretty good handle on him now,” Maher said of Gibbons.
“Just what we do next start – hopefully all going well he'll pull up well and we're going to a Sydney Cup – but whether you do just roll forward a little bit and let him just use his action a little bit.
“I was always confident because he pulled a little bit last start and was able to finish, but it was a little bit nervous.
“Tim Porter and Mick Johnston, I think the colours are a combination of both of them, so they are huge supporters and there's a lot of others in there.
“He's had a brilliant prep, he's improved every run, and he's a well-credentialled stayer anyway, so hopefully he can sneak in on the minimum.”
Dylan Gibbons was very complimentary of the winner in his post-race interview.
“He's just a monster of an animal, he gives you the best feel in the world and the problem is, in these staying races they want to go 12.5, 13 (second furlongs) and he just wants to go 11.5, 12s,” Gibbons said.
“So, you just get into a bit of a battle with him, but I was trying to hang onto him for as long as I could and from the half-mile I just had to work with him with that light weight and he was very tough late.”
Circle Of Fire is now a +500 chance in the Sydney Cup futures markets with online bookmakers.