Wide draw causes no concern for Bandipur
Bandipur has been able to keep out of trouble on his way to recording a narrow victory at Caulfield.
Godolphin colt Bandipur has overcome a wide barrier to win an incident-packed three-year-old race at Caulfield.
Drawing the second widest gate in Saturday’s Fight Cancer Foundation Plate, Bandipur was kept out of trouble by jockey Damian Lane and proved too strong in final stages of the 1100m contest.
Backed from $6.50 to $5, Bandipur prevailed by a short-head from the $2.20 favourite I Did It Again with King’s Authority ($16) a short-half-head away third.
Bandipur provided James Cummings with his first stakes win after taking over as Godolphin’s Australian trainer when successful in the Lightning Stakes at Morphettville in July.
“He’s got a fantastic constitution and is a great horse to train for us so we’re absolutely thrilled,” Goldolphin Melbourne representative David Charles said.
“James was a bit negative about the draw but the plan was to ride him like that and he was very strong at the finish.
“He’s been up a long time but providing he pulls up well we’ll find another race for him during the spring.”
Despite winning over 1100m on Saturday, Charles suggested the colt would have no problems handling an extra trip.
“He was strong at the 1200 metres at Moonee Valley last start and was again very good late today,” he said.
In a competitive race interference was suffered by several runners including Tycoon Dancer, Superhard, Grandioso, Lakhoni and Counterplay.