Two races down on the first day of The Championships and two winners have fought back to get off the canvas to record wins in the wet conditions, with The Fortune Teller fighting back to beat Macha Latte in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes.
After the track was downgraded from a Soft 6 to a Heavy 8 between race one and two at Randwick, a flood of money came for race favourite Macha Latte, and with 200m to go many of the punters would have been very happy with their investments in the favourite.
However, Tom Marquand held onto The Fortune Teller for as long as he could, before letting him rip in the final 200m to run up the inside of Macha Latte and get the better of him in the final 50m of the 1600m event.
The three-year-old son of Carvaggio had never seen a Heavy track, nor had he won at 1600m, which means that his win in the Carbine Club Stakes has shown that he does get the trip and he can be effective in the wet.
2023 Carbine Club Stakes Replay – The Fortune Teller
Ciaron Maher and David Eustace have picked up their first win of The Championships, and Maher spoke post-race about The Fortune Teller’s win.
“I think the horse needed a very strong rider,” Maher said.
“It was a bit of a colt run last start which was uncustomary, he’s been very genuine.
“We made the decision to bring him up hoping the favourite (Osipenko) was going to be scratched which then made it a very attractive race.
“I just thought Bendigo, a colt, it probably won’t do much for him.
“He’s going the right way, he may end up in Brisbane.”
Aussie Tom (Marquand) has got his first winner at The Championships under his belt now, and he spoke post-race.
“It took the weather to be like it is at home (UK) for me to get a winner on the board,” Marquand said.
“Ciaron (Maher) and David (Eustace) have been great supporters and nice to reward them with probably a bit of a surprise winner I guess.
“To be fair they went pretty quick early and I was pretty happy to be sat a few lengths off them and just as the pace slackened a bit, it just dragged me up onto the back of them.
“He had to be pretty tough towards the line because the horse on the outside (Matcha Latte – runner-up) wasn’t going to give it up easy.
“But he really dug deep and he had to on that ground.”
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