Find out what the jockeys made of their mounts after the Group 1 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick.
Josh Parr (Shadow Hero): ““I am delighted! He (Castelvecchio) had a good crack at me late, but my guy really pinned his ears back and stuck it out for me, he’s a classy animal.
“He’s been prepared perfectly by Mark Newnham and his team.
“He just ticks every box, he makes my job easy, the whole team have done such a great job with this horse, I’m just delighted.
“In such a short period of time, he’s done remarkable things as a trainer, he’s such a professional man, it’s no fluke that’s for sure.
“I’ve worked with some very good trainers and he’s certainly up there.”
Shadow Hero wins the Spring Champion Stakes at Royal Randwick
Brenton Avdulla (Castelvecchio): “He did a good job. It was 1400m to 2000m and Richard (Litt) had him fit. He’s just missed out today. He is a talented colt.”
Tim Clark (Just Thinkin'): “He ran really well. We had nice control, went the speed I wanted to go. He gave a great kick. Just whether he saw the ten furlongs out today is questionable but he has had a great prep.”
Nash Rawiller (Quick Thinker): “He took up a nice position and travelled well. He might of just felt the ground a bit. He sort of layed out a little around the home turn and didn’t quite let go 100%. He was maybe feeling the ground a fraction but it was an honest effort.”
Jason Collett (Rhaegar): “He raced too keen.”
Martin Harley (Dummy Run): “He jumped a little bit slow so I took my time on him. The pace was fair and the ground was a bit lively for him as well.”
Glen Boss (Sciconic): “He is a nice horse. It’s probably all come a bit too soon for him. Look out for him next preparation.”
Adam Hyeronimus (Sirmaze): “He is definitely a nice horse and he can definitely stay. These horses are probably a little bit more seasoned than he is at this stage of his career. A couple of them are genuine Group 1 horses. There is no reason why next preparation he can’t strengthen up a bit and catch up to them.”
Glyn Schofield (Persan): “He just wasn’t quite up to them. He presented at the top of the straight and gave me a kick for about a furlong. From then he just couldn’t follow the speed.”
Rachel King (Battenburg): “I thought I was nearly going to go back to back. He has run a huge race. For a maidener having just his fourth start I couldn’t have asked for any more of him.”
Robbie Dolan (Rent A Rock): “He tried very hard. He is still very young and immature. He travelled into the race good. They put the speed on at the 600m and got left a little bit flat footed but grinded it out. He’s be okay next prep.”
Check out the replays and results for Spring Champion Day at Royal Randwick