Irish Constabulary crushes favourites to collect Country Cup
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD gelding Irish Constabularyncaused a boil over in the second race of the day at the Gold Coast, taking out the Magic Millions Country Cup at double-figure odds.
The Flying Spur product was ridden patiently by Matthew Hellyer in midfield before launching a blistering run down the outside of the track to scorch the field and return $12.10 at WilliamHill.com.au.
Kerrin McEvoy steered Lomazzo into second to hand investors $5.50 via Crownbet.com.au while Upstart stayed on well to finish third to return $2.80 at Sportsbet.com.au.
The favourite for the race Queen Tara raced on the speed but failed to make an impression down the straight and tailed off to finish at the back of the field.
Irish Constabulary lugged the top weight around in the second race of the day but still managed to gap the field as the post approached, and trainer John Symons said the misconceptions that his horse prefers a slower track were dispelled today.
“I think everyone thinks he’s a wet tracker but he gets through it because he’s such an honest trying horse,” Symons said.
“We were pretty happy it didn’t rain today, especially with the 59kg.”
Irish Constabulary has been a bit of a journeyman-horse, racing all around the nation in its career, but Queensland could be the gelding’s home for the foreseeable future.
Symons said the horse will more than likely stay in the sunshine state going forward, but believes there are few options for the eight-year-old as to when it will race again.
“We’ll see how he pulls up. There is a race for him in a fortnight at the sunny coast.” Symons said of Irish Constabulary’s future plans.
“We might well give him a spell and bring him back and see if he can go the step further into something through to the winter here.”