Eagle Way wins G1 Queensland Derby
Eagle Way ended his Australian racing career with a flourish when he won the Group One Queensland Derby (2400m).
Eagle Way is Hong Kong-bound where he will be trained by his owner John Moore, who was at Eagle Farm to lead the celebrations on Saturday.
Moore won this year’s Hong Kong Derby with Werther, which finished runner-up in last year’s Queensland Derby.
He believes Eagle Way is an ideal type to give him back-to-back wins in the Hong Kong Derby.
Bryan Guy, who prepared Eagle Way, phoned Moore with a bold prediction after the gelding scored at Doomben in December last year.
“I said to John `I can win the Derby with this horse’,” Guy said.
“John said to me `well I can’t train a Group One winner in Australia, so I might as well own one’.
“I can’t thank John enough for all that he’s done for me and to win this race is absolutely sensational.”
Stradbroke day has been a happy hunting ground for Guy.
He won the Stradbroke in 1994 with All Our Mob and a year later trained Ravarda to win the QTC Classic, now known as the JJ Atkins Plate.
Jockey Tommy Berry was riding in Japan when Moore booked him to ride Eagle Way.
“John’s a great trainer and we’ve had a lot of success together, so when he rang me and asked if I would be available to ride this horse I jumped at the chance,” Berry said.
Moore hasn’t given up hope of one day luring Berry to Hong Kong to become his stable jockey.
“I’d like to lasso him if I could because we’re a great pair when we’re able to combine,” he said.
Eagle Way’s win was especially memorable for Moore, whose father George won the race three times as a jockey aboard Forest Beau (1951), Tulloch (1957) and Persian Lyric (1960).
Eagle Way ($7) settled midfield in the Derby before Berry made a decisive move to hit the lead at the 200-metre mark and held off Rodrico ($26) to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths with I’m Belucci ($21) a similar margin away third.
“I would’ve liked to have held him up for a bit longer, but he gave me a good kick when the second horse came at him,” Berry said.
“He looked the best stayer going into the race and that’s how it panned out.”
Joao Moreira was full of praise for the effort of runner-up Rodrico.
“He had a lovely run through the race, but the winner proved a little bit too strong in the end,” Moreira said.
Jockey Brad Rawiller said Howard Be Thy Name, the $3.50 favourite, slipped when the barriers opened but was pleased with the colt’s effort to finish fourth.