The old cliché form is temporary, class is permanent could not have rung truer after hardy campaigner Quechua raced away to a stellar win in the $500,000 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m) on Sunday.
The Argentinian-bred son of Pure Prize is now six and still sound as a bell by all accounts, even if his runs of late might have been construed as a little below-par, including his resounding defeat in the US$1 million Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup (3200m) at his last start last March.
But to his handler, Ricardo Le Grange, the Singapore Gold Cup-Emirates Singapore Derby winner had valid excuses at these defeats. For example, he just did not stay the two miles in Meydan or the tempo/race conditions of the other races did not suit him.
Quechua (Vlad Duric) takes home the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sunday, picture Singapore Turf Club
The break he gave him when he came back from the desert raid has been more than salutary.
Le Grange threw in a few gear tweaks to rejig the machine, and voila – in a smart piece of training, Quechua ($59) woke up at a time when a few had already buried, or let’s say overlooked him, to add a third Group 1 feather to his cap for good measure.
Quechua was incidentally getting third time lucky in the QEII Cup as he ran second to Stepitup in the 2015 renewal and fifth to Laughing Gravy last year, the last time the feature race was run over 2000m.
Ridden for the first time by leading jockey Vlad Duric, Quechua took full advantage of his inside alley to settle in the first tier of the 15-horse field without spending a penny, just observing manoeuvres from a fair distance as last start’s QEII Cup winner Laughing Gravy (Damian Browne) showed the way at a good clip.
The Stephen Gray-St George pair of Twickenham (Benny Woodworth) and Newlands (Glyn Schofield) were next in the running line while the top fancies were scattered all over the fairly strung out field.
From their two worst alleys, it was not suprising to see Well Done (Manoel Nunes) and War Affair (Danny Beasley) bring up the rear while favourite Jupiter Gold (Alan Munro), the only three-year-old in the race, was a little worse than midfield, but seemingly travelling comfortably with cover.
But the decisive move came from Duric at the 600m mark when he popped Quechua off his rails-hugging spot in fifth to peel around stablemate Time Odyssey (Barend Vorster) in search for daylight before the home turn.
By the time he swooped to the front at the 500m, the other backmarkers were mired in traffic at the back. Both War Affair and Gilt Complex (Michael Rodd) could not get a clear run as they warmed up to the task, and even though they were running over the Long Course, the momentum was with Quechua after he collared Laughing Gravy at the 300m and skipped clear.
Storm Troops (Nooresh Juglall), who was at his first 1800m test, loomed as a threat on the outside, but the distance found him out as he was seen running out of steam. Quechua’s clean set of heels kept going further ahead of Storm Troops, but he did well to stay on, just nosed out for second by Laughing Gravy for a Le Grange quinella. The winning time was a smart 1min 46.64secs for the 1800m on the Long Course, only 0.33 second outside the record set by Superb in 2010.
Le Grange took a while to compose himself at the post-race interviews, and understandably so. He only took over his mentor Patrick Shaw last December, and six months into his new job as the boss, he had laid claims to his first Group 1 silverware.
The winning team celebrates Quechua's success: (from left) trainer Ricardo Le Grange, jockey Vlad Duric and owner Emily Hwang, picture Singapore Turf Club
But the other reason why the South African handler, who prior to Sunday had two Group 3 wins to his name - the Fortune Bowl (Big Brother) and Saas Fee Stakes (Storm Troops) - was struggling for words was because Quechua’s win in the QEII Cup was like a pact he had made.
“I don’t know what to say. I actually promised Pat I would win two races for him this year, the QEII Cup and the Raffles Cup, and I won the first one today,” he said.
“I’m very emotional now as Quechua has been a special horse to me. We tried blinkers and a tongue-tie on him just to change things up with him, and it looks like it’s paid off.
“It was Pat who actually told me in Dubai that the horse might need a tongue-tie. At the back of my mind, I also wanted to put a set of blinkers on him, just to wake him up a bit.
“It’s all come together in the end. It’s just an honour to be associated with a horse like Quechua and he’s now given me my first Group 1 win.
“A big thank you to Pat once again. He believes in me more than I believe in myself.
“I would also like to say thank you to (assistant-trainer) Jacci de Tert who is never here to get the accolades, but she does such an amazing job behind the scenes.
“And last but not least, I take this opportunity to dedicate this win to the memory of someone very dear to me but who unfortunately just passed away in South Africa, Auntie Jakki.
“She is my best friend’s mum, and I’ve known her and her family since I was working with horses back home. She was a legend to me.”
Le Grange’s two other runners Time Odyssey (Barend Vorster) and Perfect P (John Powell) did not fare as well, finishing 12th and 13th respectively, but the shocker had to be Jupiter Gold’s last place.
Trainer Hideyuki Takaoka’s three-year-old was already under the pump by the home turn before wobbling out of contention by the 300m. But the vet report later mentioned that Jupiter Gold returned with an irregular heart rhythm, which probably accounts for the dismal run.
Among the also rans, War Affair and Well Done were also letdowns as they could only run seventh and 10th respectively. War Affair never quickened through the field, staying rather one-paced in the last 300m while Well Done tried to launch his run by looping the field, but he just petered out in the run home.
As for Duric, he was full of praise for the horse who had just handed him his fourth Group 1 hurrah in Singapore. The Caulfield Cup-winning jockey landed the first two at his first stint when victorious in the Singapore Guineas with Gingerbread Man and the Raffles Cup with Always Certain, both in 2011. He then left Singapore, but returned in 2016, winning the Lion City Cup aboard Zac Spirit that year.
“Credit to Ricky’s team, including Jacci back at the stables for a wonderful job on this horse,” said Duric, currently on top of the Singapore jockey’s log on 36 wins, two clear of Alan Munro.
“Congrats also to Ricky as he is at his first season, and he’s already won his first Group 1 race.
“I’ve never ridden Quechua in a race before, but I galloped him and trialled him leading up to this race, and all the indications were very good.
“He drew a good marble (one) and that helped give him a nice run right through. We had luck around the corner, and he just lengthened up from then.
“What a great horse he is.”
Indeed, and a great moneyspinnner, too. Quechua has now taken his imposing record to nine wins and 12 placings from 29 starts for prizemoney that has now exceeded the $3 million mark for the Avengers Stable.
