Mentality 勝出今季悉尼第一場一級賽
Mentality regained his mantle as a Randwick star when he landed his third Group One race on his favourite course in today's $400,000 George Main Stakes.
Mentality added the George Main to his previous G1 victories over the Randwick mile in the Champagne Stakes and Randwick Guineas in his two and three-year-old season.
Today' win gave the gelding the rare distinction of being a winner of Group One races as a two, three and five-year-old after his 4YO season was disrupted by the EI outbreak.
Mentality had previously beaten such big names as Racing To Win and Miss Finland in those G1 races and today took some more big scalps to leave spring plans for several contenders in confusion
Doncaster Handicap winner Triple Honour failed to impress when he missed a place, placing in doubt his Melbourne carnival plans, while the Golden Rose winner Duporth showed the setback that prevented him from racing for a month had left him short of fitness for such a high pressure race.
Mentality entered the George Main at the crossroads after unflattering performances in his two Rosehill starts over shorter distances since resuming last month.
He was back on his game today when he responded to an aggressive ride by jockey Corey Brown to race close up from the start.
After the leader Ashikaga folded at the top of the straight it was left to Theseo and Mentality to fight out the race with no other runners making any significant ground on the first pair.
Theseo, not recognized as a weight-for-age horse, produced a great trial for next Saturday's Epsom Handicap when he fought head and head with Mentality for 200m before the winner gained the upper hand close to the line.
Chelmsford Stakes winner Gallant Tess tracked into the race on the fence and was held up for a run turning for home. However she got clear in ample time and did not have the sprint to get to the first pair in the last 200m.
Mentality may get the chance to add another Randwick Group One race to his record next Saturday if trainer John Hawkes decides to back him up in the $600,000 Epsom Handicap where he is fairly weighted on 56kg for a horse with his record.
Mentality gave Hawkes his first Group One win since he resigned as private trainer for the Ingham family last year to establish stables in Sydney and Melbourne in partnership with his sons Wayne and Michael.
The Hall Of Fame trainer has now won the George Main four times after three previous wins for the Inghams with Lonhro (2003), Viscount (2001) and Dracula (1998).
Michael Hawkes said Mentality's liking for Randwick would make it hard to pass up a shot at the Epsom, although Theseo will meet him on 4.5kg better terms with a big drop from 59kg to 51.5kg.
“He loves the mile here,” Hawkes said.
"We will just see how he pulls up and talk it over."
Only four horses have won the George Main-Epsom double in the same year since 1948 with Racing To WIn in 2006 the only winner of the double in the last 30 years.
Mentality has won seven of his 27 starts and boasts a Randwick record of three wins and three placing from nine starts at the course.
The Flying Spur gelding pocketed another $240,000 today to be less than $64,000 away from being our next $2 million prize winner.
Corey Brown said the race panned out perfectly for Mentality after he eased back to sit in fourth place in the one out and one back position.
“He travelled really nice, peeled him off just before the home turn, rolled up the rise still well within himself and attacked the line,” Brown said.
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