Saturday’s $2 million The Ingham at Royal Randwick and memories of Dear John overwhelm the bleat of the week and allegations that jockeys cop a sling for tipping and betting.
Yes, diehards are grizzling at the name change this year from Villiers to The Ingham. The original title goes back to 1892 and the NSW Governor Sir Victor Albert George Child-Villiers, whose “prodigality” – according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography – led to gambling debts and “abandoning the turf”.
Job well done . . . Regan Bayliss gives Brutality a pat after winning the Villiers last year.
Credit:Getty
Subsequently, the Villiers has been gloriously colonial and special around Christmas, and has produced topliners such as Bernborough.
It loses no caste with the switch to The Ingham in honour of the brothers who founded the Woodlands Stud empire, which is now owned by Godolphin. Other contributions included Big Jack’s role as an Australian Jockey Club committeeman and mammoth plunger.
Big Jack was no Child-Villiers where the punt was concerned. He won – and he remembered the Theo Green-trained Dear John fondly. Taking the Christmas double was rare because the Summer Cup over 2400m came only days after the Villiers (1600m).
“Before the Villiers, Theo told me Dear John had been prepared for a mile and a half so to stir him up coming out of the gates, which didn’t trouble him,” Quinton recalled this week.
“Dear John scored comfortably, received a penalty in the Summer Cup and won easier. Big Jack had backed him in doubles.”
Surely the present for the jockey – something other than the accepted winning percentage – was substantial? “Would have got more off the local butcher,” Quinton quipped.
Of course, just what jockeys should obtain other than the accepted return and from whom is very much in contention. It breaches racing law but is hardly a crime against humanity.
Ron Quinton, Jack Ingham and Theo Green after winning the Villiers with Dear John.Credit:Fairfax
And the bleat of the week from punters at Rosehill last Saturday? Not a favourite being boxed up on the rails for 1200m (Frumos) or hauling a hotpot (Estadio Mestalla) back to the rear on instructions in what became an amble, but rather horses appearing in the steward’s report as “slow to begin”, where Brutality – a strong chance to create history in The Ingham – figured.
Some may deduce that the gelding wasn’t inconvenienced because he is normally a backmarker.
Brutality, though, had 64.5kg, settled a long last, and was not far off sprinting 33 seconds for his final 600m in finishing under two lengths from the winner.
Brutality won the Villiers last year, but no horse has notched two. I submit the six-year-old is going just as good: last year he carried 60.5kg in the corresponding lead-up and finished third.
Perhaps today is stronger, particularly if the second reserve, Nugget, from Great Britain, gets a run.
No doubt he triumphed in a common Kembla Grange sprint last start, but he generated the buzz of being in the company of something special.
He could show the gravity of his potential today, if not in the group 2 Ingham then in the following Thanks Bob and Jack Ingham handicap, which is also over 1600m.
Nugget looks more a miler, but the French-bred Huetor, which is topweight in The Ingham, has the ability to do a Dear John. Huetor is a group 1 winner over 2100m in the Doomben Cup as well as at 1600m.
Chris Waller won his only Villiers with Honor In War, but the recent influx of imports hardly figured in the event.
Nugget promises to be much better than Brutality, which is just a good handicapper. More than his favoured slow surface, Brutality will need astute navigation after a clean break at the gates. But he’s a good gamble.
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