Veteran stayer Tanby fought out a tight finish to win the Group 2 $400,000 Tattsbet Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville today.
The former Lloyd Williams owned Tanby, now under the care trainer Mick Cerchi was given a dream run by jockey Dean Holland before putting in a final tough effort to grab victory right on the line.
Tanby wins the 2015 Adelaide Cup from Taiyoo (pictured inside). Photo: Jenny Barnes
Race favourite Renew ($4.60) was given a sweet ride midfield by Chris Symons and looked the winner when pulled out in the straight but was unable to peg back the first two placegetters to finish third, a half length away.
The furthest Tanby had won over was 2500m and even though the eight year old was having his first start over the 3200m, Cerchi was confident he would run the distance.
“We knew he could run the journey out and everything just went to plan,” Cerchi said.
But even though Cerchi knew he had a tough stayer, he said you could never be too confident heading into a big race.
“You don’t feel confident when you go into an Adelaide Cup. You come here and just hope you do your best,” Cerchi said.
“The horse was good as we could get him and we got the chocolates.”
Today’s win was Tanby’s first since taking out the 2012 Group 2 $350,000 Zipping Classic (2400m) at Sandown at the end of the Melbourne Cup Carnival when trained by Robert Hickmott for Lloyd Williams.
The pace was slow in the early stages with most of the runners tugging for more rein until Todd Pannell on Vima circled the field at the 1600m to put some extra pace into the race.
This suited Taiyoo and Tanby who both were getting nice runs midfield.
Brad Rawiller made his move on Taiyoo just before the home turn and gave the Darren Weir trained five year old a clear run to the line.
Taiyoo put up a gallant display under the 59kg and was only caught in the last few strides by Tanby who also put up a great effort after having to change course half way down the straight when a run closed in front of him.
Second favourite Lucky Lucky Lucky ($5.50) was always well back in the second half of the field and was never a threat before finishing ninth, five and three quarters lengths from the winner.
2015 Adelaide Cup Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | TANBY | Mick Cerchi | Dean Holland | # | 8 | 53kg | $16 |
| 2 | 1 | TAIYOO | Darren Weir | Brad Rawiller | 0.1L | 13 | 59kg | $6 |
| 3 | 3 | RENEW (IRE) | Archie Alexander | Chris Symons | 0.6L | 2 | 55kg | $4.60F |
| 4 | 6 | DISTILLATION | Nick Smart | Ms Jamie Kah | 0.8L | 9 | 53kg | $61 |
| 5 | 10 | TOO COOL TO FOOL (NZ) | Leon Macdonald & Andrew Gluyas | Clare Lindop | 0.9L | 4 | 53kg | $17 |
| 6 | 7 | VIMA | Bill Papazaharoudakis | Todd Pannell | 2.5L | 12 | 53kg | $101 |
| 7 | 9 | THE RUFFIAN | Sheila Arnold | Dom Tourneur | 2.9L | 7 | 53kg | $16 |
| 8 | 12 | BREDLIGN (NZ) | Sue Murphy | Jason Holder | 5.1L | 3 | 53kg | $81 |
| 9 | 5 | LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY | Tony McEvoy | Kerrin McEvoy | 5.7L | 11 | 53kg | $5.50 |
| 10 | 13 | LUCK’S A FORTUNE | Pat Carey | Damian Lane | 6.3L | 5 | 53kg | $6 |
| 11 | 15 | REFECTORY (IRE) | Richard Laming | Jeff Lloyd | 6.5L | 1 | 53kg | $19 |
| 12 | 8 | CRIME FIGHTER | Peter G Moody | Glen Boss | 7.9L | 6 | 53kg | $8 |
| 13 | 2 | PELICANO | Tony McEvoy | Damien Oliver | 12.1L | 14 | 57kg | $15 |
| 14 | 11 | WALTZING TO WIN | David Huxtable | Jake Toeroek (a) | 17.4L | 10 | 53kg | $41 |
