Channel 7 Queensland Derby (Group 1)

JOHNNY Allen continued his big-race winning ways at Eagle Farm on Saturday landing the Group 1 Queensland Derby for Phillip Stokes on the race favourite Mr Quickie. Having been pegged on the rail in the 18-horse field, Mr Quickie just needed clear galloping room to put the contest away.

“We got hampered at the start but with the good barrier we were just able to creep a little closer,” said Allen. “There were a couple of tight gaps we had to thread, but he accelerated away from them when he got there.”

Home by a length, Mr Quickie had to survive an inquiry having drifted out slightly in the straight. “To say it cost him the race is very ambitious,” said Allen in the stewards’ room regarding Damien Oliver’s assertion of second placed Vow And Declare’s thwarted chance. Third was the Hinchinbrook filly Aliferous.

“I think the sky’s the limit for this horse,” said Stokes who took over the training of the winner after the disqualification of Darren Weir. “I’ll leave him up here for a month and then aim him at the spring in Melbourne for a race like the Caulfield Cup.”

Mr Quickie becomes the first Group 1 winner for his sire Shamus Award, himself by Snitzel and a winner of the CoxPlate as a three-year-old.

Melbourne prize boost

IN a move, viewed as a response to Sydney’s aggressive prize money increases, the 2019 Lexus Melbourne Cup has had its purse increased to A$8 million. Up from $7.05 million in 2018, the Cup is now above the $7.5 million Golden Eagle, a 1,500-metre event for four-year-olds, the inaugural running of which is scheduled for Rosehill on Victoria Derby day the first of the Melbourne Cup Carnival’s four days, and just two weeks after Randwick’s $14 million The Everest, this year to be run on Caulfield Cup day.

This year’s winner for the Lexus Melbourne Cup will receive $4.4 million.