Regal Lion has taken out the feature race at Ipswich, with Ben Thompson guiding the Annabel Neasham gelding to victory in the $200,000 Listed Ipswich Cup on Saturday afternoon.
The son of Jakkalberry brought up his third win at his 21st start, after being sent out as an outsider in the market at $26 with most online bookmakers.
Numerian and Zadig took up the running and ensured that the Cup was run at a solid tempo until the 800m mark, where Thompson took off on the eventual winner to make a searching run four wide.
As the field rounded the home turn, Regal Lion took over and Desert Icon and he settled in to battle it out down the home straight with Thompson getting everything out of his mount to record a narrow victory over the race favourite in the final strides.
The connections and Neasham team had the option to go to the McKell Cup at Rosehill or stay in Queensland, and as she always does, Neasham chose the right path and it paid dividends.
2023 Ipswich Cup Replay – Regal Lion
With Annabel Neasham at Rosehill, her stable foreman Todd Pollard spoke post-race about the win.
“Ben brought Regal Lion into the race, blinkers on switched him on and he pounced and was tough at the finish,” Pollard said.
“He's a dour Kiwi so it takes him a bout to get going.
“A few of the staff at home were quite confident he would go as well as Numerian if not better, and he was favourite this morning.
“He's been going really well at home and his work on Tuesday morning was very sharp, so it's not a huge surprise he's shown plenty of improvement from his last run.
“He'll stay up here and run in the Caloundra Cup. I'm sure he'll appreciate the 2400m.”
Ben Thompson brought up a double on Ipswich Cup Day with the win and he also spoke post-race about the victory.
“You need the horse underneath you, so all credit to Annabel and Todd,” Thompson said.
“He was always going to be much more at home over 2000 metres, and the way the track has been playing I knew it would suit a horse like him, because he likes to slowly work his way into the race.
“The blinkers also did the trick, he jumped smartly and travelled beautifully.
“They steadied up so I popped him out to keep him in a nice rhythm, and we picked up our run from there.
“Hopefully I can stick with him.”