Royal Patronage causes upset to claim Group 1 Canterbury Stakes
The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained cant ($23.00) grinded his way to victory in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick on Saturday afternoon, giving the son of Wootton Bassett his first Group 1 win at start 21.
The six-year-old has gone to a new level to kick off the preparation and sat down to battle out the finish alongside the ultra-consistent Here To Shock (), with the pair doing all the work on speed throughout the journey.
They were one-two every step of the way with Nash Rawiller (Here To Shock) and Tim Clark (Royal Patronage) persuading the duo to launch forward in the early stages, leaving the favoured pair of Switzerland () and Magic Time () stalking in behind the leaders.
Stefi Magnetica ($5.50) didn’t have much luck when attempting to slot in for cover under Zac Lloyd, while Sunshine In Paris ($6.50) was only making modest inroads in the concluding stages.
The back markers simply never came into play as Here To Shock and Royal Patronage began to put a gap back to third, with the Waterhouse & Bott import narrowly getting the verdict over gallant runner-up effort by the Lindsay Park-trained gelding.
Adrian Bott was on course to break down the victory and suggested there is still plenty of improvement left to come for Royal Patronage despite winning first-up from a spell.
“He’s an incredible horse, you know,” said Bott.
“To do what he did in his first start in Australia and first preparation, I thought was, you know, one of the most forward Europeans that we’ve had over.
“I always felt there would be some improvement to an extent, this preparation from him, and we’ve seen that today.
“He’s come and won an important weight-for-age Group 1 race for him and being an entire that’s going to help his value going forward, but I still feel there’s a bit more to come from him.
“I felt he was a bit unlucky at various stages throughout the preparation.
“He ran some big races, ran at the top level against some quality horses, and as I said, all in his first preparation in Australia. So, he’s shown that nice improvement this time around, and I think he can go right on with it.
“we’ve always had a big circle around the Doncaster, felt kicking off here and through the George Ryder would be a nice style of preparation.
“He’s proven today he can sprint well fresh, which he did last preparation, so I thought he’d run a big race today, but in fairness, I thought he might have been better suited once we do get him deeper into his preparation.”
Tim Clark spoke to the toughness of his mount to get the head down where it matters most.
“We went to the races first up in the spring extremely confident and he was showing all the same signs coming into this prep,” said Clark.
“Obviously he just had to elevate to a new level today, as it was a very strong race.
“Once he got into his spot, the speed was lovely, he was comfortable the whole way, he did fill me with confidence throughout the race and I knew when I got into a dogfight late he was going to be there for me.
“It gives me great satisfaction to win a Group 1 for Gai and Adrian.”
Royal Patronage is now a $11 chance with horse racing bookmakers for the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) on April 5.
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