Vlad Duric’s decision to jump off Alibi and even Lim’s Cruiser to ride Wimbledon in the $800,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) may have taken a few by surprise, but the leading jockey said it was loyalty that won out.
The Australian rider is the regular partner for all three gallopers, but probably more so for the first two. Only low weights made him miss out, and for Lim’s Cruiser, in a big way twice, while he has only got on Wimbledon, a much more seasoned campaigner in comparison to the other two, this year, winning once and finishing third in the Group 2 Merlion Trophy (1200m) at the other.
But the first commitment made on Wimbledon earlier was something Duric was not going to renege on.
Vlad Duric and his renowned vigour aboard Wimbledon at their winning turn on January 20.
To him, there was never any dilemma to him; it was clear as day who he would be sitting on come raceday.
“I could ride three horses in the Lion City Cup, but I’ve been booked by James (Peters, Wimbledon’s trainer) a long time ago,” said Duric.
“When a decision was made last Tuesday to run Lim’s Cruiser, I had already made up my mind to ride Wimbledon.
“Wimbledon had been specifically set for the Lion City Cup while both Stephen (Gray, Lim’s Cruiser’s trainer) and Mike (Clements, Alibi’s trainer) had not yet decided all this while.
“I would have done a disservice to James if I had not picked Wimbledon. All three are wonderful chances, but I had to show my loyalty to James.”
Conventional wisdom generally has it that the younger horses have more upsides, but the in-form and in-demand hoop is serene about his choice.
To Duric, he never lost any sleep over the three-forked road.
It’s true he has partnered Alibi at all his starts bar the two times he could not make the weight in the Group 3 Saas Fee Stakes (1400m) and the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy (1400m) last year. He was aboard at the other seven starts, prevailing at five of them, including at his impressive comeback run in a Benchmark 83 race over 1200m on March 31.
It has been a fairly similar story with Lim’s Cruiser, missing the rides when the weights were too low, except this time the Stephen Gray-trained galloper won, and it did sting as they came in big races – the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy (1400m) last November and the Group 3 Rocket Man Sprint (1200m) on March 26.
But to Duric, Wimbledon has more than earned his ticket to Central Court and won’t be playing for a place cheque.
“James has saved Wimbledon for this run. He’s had a beautiful prep,” he said.
“He had a nice trial last Thursday, and I couldn’t be happier with his condition going into the race.
“All I can hope now is to have luck in the running. He will be right there.”
Duric has also picked up the ride on Draco in the other feature for this weekend, the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) on Good Friday. The son of Falkirk is one of five horses nominated by trainer Cliff Brown, the others being Could Be Pearls, Deimos, Mr Fatkid and Mr Isaac.
Contrary to Wimbledon, Duric said the choice in this case has not come without a bit of research.
“I’ve never sat on the horse, but from the available choices I had, he was the one that I thought was going to be the best,” said the Caulfield Cup-winning jockey who currently tops the Singapore log on 24 winners.
“I thought he was unlucky at his last start (first Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, the Sprint over 1200m) and going back on the Long Course over 1400m should help him.
“I had a bit of a chat with Michael (Rodd), and we could make a case for each one of them, but I’m happy with my ride (Draco). He will be heading to the Guineas.”
