James Cummings and James McDonald have combined on Thousand Guineas Day, with Pisces ($3.10) making a mess of his rivals in the Group 3 Blue Sapphire Stakes (1400m) at Caufield on Saturday afternoon.
The son of Frosted was heavily backed into $3.10 prior to the jump, with punters happy to chime in at the price with Neds after an eye-catching first-up performance at Moonee Valley in the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) on October 26.
McDonald was able to lob into the perfect stalking position from barrier two, while Coleman ($3.00) almost jumped too well under Ethan Brown, with the Pierata colt racing ungenerously in an unfamiliar leading role.
I Am Velvet ($7.50) pressed forward to sit on his outside and ticking over some strong sectionals early, allowing Catoggio ($5.00) and Rue De Royale ($7.50) to sit behind the leading pair.
Catoggio didn’t have much luck when attempting to get clear in the final 400m, however, McDonald had no such issues aboard Pisces, as the progressive three-year-old went right on by to secure a dominant 2.5-length win in the 2024 Blue Sapphire Stakes.
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James Cummings was on course to breakdown the win and suggested the $500,000 feature was always going to be perfect placement for Pisces.
“He’s been held back for a race like this and it has paid off,” Cummings said.
“I loved the way James rode him from the inner gate. In his trials he was quite content to be further back and out of the breeze but he just cruised up to the opposition like he’s really going somewhere.
“He’s an exciting horse heading into his future as a lightly raced three-year-old.
“We like the idea of targeting racing in the autumn and we liked to see him score.
“He was excellent first-up at Moonee Valley but it is one thing run well behind them and it is another thing to win in a race like this and put them away with style.
“This was a rich race worth targeting. A horse like Pisces this was ‘low hanging fruit’ it was worth targeting. We like going fishing for races like this and he is one to keep aiming for races like it.”
James McDonald was impressed with the win and suggested there’s more to come from Pisces moving forward.
“He’s a nice horse and he’s on an upward spiral,” he said.
“His run at Moonee Valley was terrific and didn’t have a lot of luck. It was a barrier trial as he didn’t get out until 100 to go. I thought he’d come here pretty competitive and he drew that nice gate.”
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