Everything panned out a treat today at Flemington for now 11-time Group 1 winning jockey Jamie Kah who got a gun ride on a very tough horse to score a deserving upset in the 39th running of the Australian Guineas 2024 with Southport Tycoon.
2024 Australian Guineas winner Southport Tycoon has won a spot in the All-Star Mile field. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Only last weekend at Caulfield Kah was celebrating taking her Group 1 tally into double-figures with success in the Blue Diamond Stakes aboard the treble winning filly Hayasugi.
The in-form hoop was back in the winners’ stall at elite level today with a masterful ride aboard the gutsy Southport Tycoon for Ciaron Maher in the Group 1 $1 million Australian Guineas (1600m).
In doing so, she emulated Michael Dee from last Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival who won the Blue Diamond on Little Brose and then the Australian Guineas seven days later aboard Legarto in 2023.
Maher’s nicely-bred Written Tycoon colt was somewhat forgotten in Australian Guineas betting, but was able to shrug off his place-getter status after two lead-up seconds to celebrate his own top-level triumph.
He become the first horse since Heart Of Dreams (2009) 15 years ago to win the Australian Guineas off a lead-up run in the Group 2 Autumn Stakes (1400m), going one better than his second after a ding-dong battle with Snow Patrol in his lead-up to salute in the mile classic.
“He was an almost forgotten colt really, I was very confident last start, and I almost doubted myself a little bit,” Maher told Racing.com after the win.
“But I was confident she (Kah) had the right barrier to bounce out and land in the right spot. She couldn’t have rode the horse any better.
“This colt’s always promised so much.
“Phenomenal.”
Kah travelled beautifully throughout before getting onto the back of Veight, who hit the front on the outside on the home straight, before popping out to break away and take the lead 100m out from the line.
Southport Tycoon ($19) dug deep and charged home strongly to score a 1.25 length boilover defeating the classy Tony & Calvin McEvoy-trained Veight ($4.80) by a good margin on the line.
“Everything just worked out a dream out there today,” Kah said.
“We got into a beautiful spot, the horse I wanted to follow was Veight, and we were following him.
“When I popped out about the 400 (metres) I thought ‘he’s going to run a really nice second here’ and then he just found and found and kept finding.
“The scary thing is he’s so raw still…he’s got a lot more improvement there.
“But I’ll take that, that was awesome.
“He was in the zone today, as soon as he got next to Veight he just wanted to go past him.”
Hard luck story of the race was the Chris Waller-trained VRC Derby champ Riff Rocket ($2.50F), with the last start Group 3 CS Hayes winner getting bailed away on the fence at the back half of the field before finally getting out to make up late ground and run a good third.
Maher will now weight up autumn options for Southport Tycoon who has earned, should connections opt to accept, a guaranteed spot in the $3.65 million All-Star Mile (1600m) at Caulfield on March 16.
“Being a three-year-old colt, maybe it’s worth considering a little bit more,” Maher said of the 2024 All-Star Mile.
“Now he’s got that Group 1 on the board, it’s a more realistic option.
“I’m sure they’ll enjoy tonight and we’ll have some good, healthy conversations tomorrow about that race.”
Click here to access the full all-in All-Star Mile 2024 betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au.
2024 Australian Guineas Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | SOUTHPORT TYCOON | Ciaron Maher | Ms Jamie Kah | 4 | 57kg | $19 | |||
| 2 | 2 | VEIGHT | Tony & Calvin McEvoy | Damian Lane | 1.25L | 6 | 57kg | $4.80 | ||
| 3 | 1 | RIFF ROCKET | Chris Waller | Craig Williams | 2.25L | 9 | 57kg | $2.50F | ||
| 4 | 15 | QUINTESSA (NZ) | Mark Walker | Michael Dee | 2.65L | 8 | 55kg | $21 | ||
| 5 | 10 | VERDAD | Robbie Griffiths & Mathew de Kock | Jye McNeil | 3.65L | 3 | 57kg | $18 | ||
| 6 | 14 | HEY FAT CAT | Robbie Laing | Ethan Brown | 3.75L | 1 | 57kg | $26 | ||
| 7 | 6 | CAP FERRAT | Chris Waller | Joshua Parr | 3.95L | 2 | 57kg | $26 | ||
| 8 | 13 | OTAGO (NZ) | Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) | Ben Melham | 4.25L | 5 | 57kg | $26 | ||
| 9 | 11 | SNOW PATROL (NZ) | Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) | Blake Shinn | 5L | 7 | 57kg | $13 | ||
| 10 | 3 | KING COLORADO | Ciaron Maher | Mark Zahra | 5.4L | 11 | 57kg | $9 | ||
| 11 | 4 | APULIA | Ben, Will & JD Hayes | Luke Currie | 5.5L | 14 | 57kg | $61 | ||
| 12 | 5 | ZIPAWAY | Neville Parnham | Steven Parnham | 7.5L | 10 | 57kg | $21 | ||
| 13 | 8 | RUN HARRY RUN | Michael Moroney | Daniel Stackhouse | 7.6L | 15 | 57kg | $101 | ||
| 14 | 9 | SUNSETS | Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young | John Allen | 8.35L | 12 | 57kg | $61 | ||
| 15 | 7 | THE PENDRAGON (NZ) | Michael Moroney | Jordan Childs | 10.1L | 13 | 57kg | $31 | ||
| 16 | 16 | VIESTE | Benjamin Smith | Fred Kersley | 15.6L | 16 | 55kg | $201 | ||
| 17e | MAH ALI | Benjamin Smith | Fred Kersley | 0 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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