Mishani Sniper for Les Ross and Mark Du Plessis has caused a minor boilover in the Listed Chief De Beers at Doomben, with the bottom weight in the race sustaining a long run from the 600m to get the better of The Big Goodbye in the final strides.
The four-year-old gelded son of Your Song was sent out as an $18 roughie with online bookmakers, however, with 200m to go, there only looked to be three potential winners in the race, and Mishani Sniper was travelling the stronger of the three.
After jumping from barrier nine, Du Plessis let his gelding find his feet and then found the back of the eventual runner-up, which gave him a lovely cart into the race and was ultimately the race winning move.
The exact same trainer and jockey combination finished third with Mishani Hustler in the 2021 edition of the race, so with a win in this year's race, it gives both Ross and Du Plessis their first win in the race.
2023 Chief De Beers Replay – Mishani Sniper
After breaking through for his maiden victory in the Chief De Beers, Les Ross spoke post-race about the win of Mishani Sniper.
“He's a nice horse but he drew (barrier) 11 and had to go back and can you go back at Doomben and come home, maybe not,” Ross said.
“I wasn't very confident.
“He's a nice horse. We've been riding him forward most of the time but that day Ang (Jones) fell out of the gates and he flew home, Mark was quite happy to go back again today.
“He was quietly confident, Mark. A very good ride.”
Mark Du Plessis brough up his first winner on Doomben Cup Day, and he spoke post-race about the win.
“He's the type of horse that you can ask to switch off. From that barrier at that start today, Les left it up to me – which was lucky,” Du Plessis said.
“He has led and won, and he has come from the back.
“I think the give in the track really helped him. He wanted to hang a bit. A firmer track might find him out.
“He's in such a great rich vein of form that Les has got to him flying.”