Kia Tancred Stakes (Group 1)

THE Irish-bred Sir Dragonet has backed up his Cox Plate heroics of the spring to land Rosehill’s final feature of the autumn, the Group 1 Tancred Stakes over 2,400 metres. In the care of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, having signed off for Aidan O’Brien with a second to Magical in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, Sir Dragonet was the punters elect having run fourth seven days earlier to Verry Elleegant in the Ranvet Stakes.

Camelot

Settled one off the fence three pairs back by Glen Boss, the Camelot horse travelled incident free with Boss improving his position approaching the bend. Through a gap and into the clear, Sir Dragonet had his rivals covered, stretching out to a two-length win. The Dundeel mare She’s Ideal was the next best ahead of the 2019 VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound, by Reliable Man. New Zealand heroine Melody Belle was simply too far back as the widest runner into the straight finishing sixth, and Nickajack Cave, having his first start for Peter Moody since transferring from Ger Lyons, was last into the bend and lacked the dash required finishing 10th.

Best form

“It’s good to get him back to his best form, he put the writing on the wall with his last run and I suppose the (seven-day) back-up was the only little query but he was super,” said co-trainer Ciaron Maher. “Glen rode him very confidently and had him relaxed. They probably didn’t go quite quick enough for him last week and the other horses were a little bit zippy. Hopefully he can continue on to the Queen Elizabeth,” added Maher.

“On his day, depending on conditions, the more work you give this horse, the better he is. The more racing, the deeper into a prep, the better he is.”