At last, Imperial Lad has broken his duck over the mile on his sixth attempt in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Mile (1600m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
And what an occasion to do it, holding on from start to finish to salute in the quarter-million feature.
It was a brilliantly-judged ride from Damian Lane, and the five-year-old responded with courage to hold off So Si Bon (for Ben and JD Hayes, jockey Mark Zahra) at the post.
2022 VOBIS Gold Mile Replay
“I just said to Damian before going out ‘he’s had a few runs at the mile and been placed a few times’,” winning trainer John Moloney told Racing.com.
“We haven’t quite got it, but we got it today.”
Moloney showed great judgment and belief to proceed with this feature race after Imperial Lad’s 15th from a field of 16 in the $200,000 Victoria Handicap (1400m) at the same venue last Saturday.
The punters also jumped on board, the gelding heavily backed at $6 to win with Ladbrokes.
Lane made sure they weren’t disappointed with his inch-perfect ride, holding firm on the rail and saluting in an impressive 1:36.84.
Imperial Lad’s response to Lane’s ride proved what Moloney saw in him despite last Saturday’s result.
“Yeah, we had it (today’s feature) in mind. I was a little worried about his tough run last week,” Moloney said.
“I just needed to see him do well enough and come through the race OK, and he did.
“So that gave us the impetus to get here today.”