In Brief
- Double You Tee comes home to roost.
- Home town win for Patrick Payne-trained gelding.
- Owner sheds tears of joy after career-best win.
Tasmanian-bred and owned gelding Double You Tee delivered a career-best effort to take out the $250,000 Ladbrokes Hobart Cup at Ladbrokes Park Elwick on Sunday that left managing part-owner Ian Halliday speechless.
Halliday and his co-owners watched in awe as the Written Tycoon gelding gave his rivals a galloping lesson on the way to a convincing win in the Group 3 event over 2400m with top Victorian rider Jye McNeill in the saddle.
The Patrick Payne gelding began his career in Tasmania and the road to winning a Hobart Cup was long and tedious for the local owners who opted to follow the advice of his original trainer John Blacker and sent the horse to Payne, owing to there being insufficient staying races in Tasmania.
Double You Tee has resided in Payne’s Victorian stables for the past two-and-a-half years and while the gelding has delivered seven wins and 13 seconds for a bucket-load of prizemoney, it all paled into insignificance when he outgunned a top field to win Halliday’s home-town cup.
Double You Tee (Written Tycoon-Kandy Korn) settled near last but made ground gradually from the 800-metre mark to be within striking distance 500m from home.
Sir Simon ($12) led from Gee Gee Fiorente but when they started to feel the pinch the serious players emerged with Captain Cook ($61) the first to lay down the gauntlet and find the lead at the top of the home straight.
But when McNeill hit the go-button, Double You Tee unleashed a tremendous turn of foot that put the result beyond doubt, and he went on to defeat the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Classic Weiwei ($17) by 1-1/4 lengths with the early favourite Barade ($4.60) a half-length astern and just over a length clear of Captain Cook.
When Halliday regained his composure, he said Double You Tee would now turn his attention to the Launceston Cup in just over a fortnight in search of the $100,000 Cups Double Bonus.
The bonus offers $100,000 to any horse that can win the Hobart and Launceston cups in the same season, with $50,000 for the owners and $50,0000 to the trainer.
“If the horse recovers well from this race, I’m sure he will head to the Launceston Cup and they tell me there is a bonus up for grabs and that would be nice.”
Payne said he was thrilled the horse was able to win the race for his band of Tasmanian owners.
“I’m thrilled for the horse and I am as thrilled for the owners because it has been their dream (to win the Hobart Cup) and now they have achieved it,” Payne said.
“This horse has been a great addition to my stable because he is a genuine stayer, and he is a very courageous horse.”
Jockey McNeill said he thought he was a winning chance a long way from home.
“When we improved 800m from home he cruised to better than midfield and when I asked him for an effort turning for home, he felt great and he won comfortably in the end,” McNeill said.
Double You Tee was purchased by Blacker for $115,000 as the top-priced yearling at the 2017 Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
Blacker, who had a Cup runner in Glass Warrior, that finished seventh, said his decision to move Double You Tee on had been vindicated.
“He was a magnificent yearling and that’s why we paid so much for him, but the owners weren’t keen to geld him and that probably cost him winning the Tasmanian Derby,” Blacker said.
“They finally gelded him and after a little while with Patrick he started to show the form that we all thought he would.
“I’m thrilled for the horse and Ian (Halliday) and the other owners, but I still wish he was in my stable.”
Watch Double You Tee win the Group 3 $250,000 Ladbrokes Hobart Cup.