GROUP 1 CHAMPIONS MILE – JOCKEY COMMENTS
Winning Jockey: Chad Schofield (Ceolwulf)
Beaten and fought back to win fourth Group 1: “Very gutsy. He jumped really well today, and he took the most out of that good jump and put himself in a more forward position and when the race heated up around the 600 metres, I was still going really well. Mr Brightside was gone, and I had to get off his back and get going. He ambled into it and then he had a good look when he hit the big Flemington stretch for the first time, and he got a bit lost for a while until Pericles got in front of him and then he could see him with his blinkers, and he was the stronger horse late.
“If you had’ve asked me how I was feeling at the 400, I’d have said it was race over. He ambled up and came into it but in the Flemington straight he put his head up and baulked. That allowed Pericles to get a margin on me, and when he saw him, he went again.
“It looked tough and hard fought but that gawk at the top of the straight cost him a bit.”
Prospect of Cox Plate next year: “I’ve got one Cox Plate, I’d love another.”
Best horse ridden?: “He’s very good. I’ve been lucky and I’ve ridden some very good ones, but he’s getting better. He’s top class.”
Still improving: “He’s got a lot to go, and Joe has done an amazing job with him. He’s a horse that keeps getting better each preparation. He was enormous the other day in the King Charles and today we saw another quality of his, his fighting spirit. It was huge.”
“It’s great to come down and be a part of the carnival here. I’m so proud of the horse and he’s a horse who I believe is incredibly good. It was a race full of quality and a proper race.”
BEATEN JOCKEYS
Ben Melham (Pericles): “Terrific run. He was there to win, just got out toughed by a tough bugger on the day.”
Jason Collett (Stefi Magnetica): “She copped a bit of a squeeze early, not really comfortable when the pace went on, so to finish where she did, she went very well.”
Damian Lane (Treasurethe Moment): “She ran super. To present as well as she did, in that ground, I thought she really toughed it out. She really struggled with her footing over the last four hundred metres, so to run fourth in such a good race, in a testing run race, I thought a really good effort. Just a testing run mile on a heavy track really found her out.”
Craig Williams (Mr Brightside): “It’s a shame. He wanted to hang out throughout the race, so he definitely wasn’t at his best. Most importantly he’s come through the race okay.”
Ethan Brown (Von Hauke): “He didn’t handle the conditions.”
Tom Marquand (Lake Forest): “Just hated the ground. We knew he was a top of the ground horse but he’s travelled halfway across the world, so he wasn’t going to scratch, shame so much rain came.”
Declan Bates (Pride Of Jenni): “She just hated this heavy track today, a long way out she was sort of dipping and diving underneath me and I just wasn’t able to use that stride to get away; just purely simply hated the ground, I think.”
Harry Coffey (Steparty): “Travelled well but under full pressure at that level, lost his action in the ground.”