Waller aims Kermadec at the Cox Plate after George Main win

Kermadec gives everyone who rides him a Rolls-Royce feel and he is starting to develop a record to match after the Doncaster winner added the George Main Stakes to his record at Randwick on Saturday.

 

The four-year-old let down hard to beat stablemate Royal Descent, the runner-up in the group 1 for the third straight year, by a half length, with Pornichet a head away in third.

 

It will be the last time Kermadec is seen in Sydney with Melbourne and the Cox Plate clearly in his sights.
“I think he has been racing like a 2000-metre horse,” trainer Chris Waller said. “You look at him, he is a bit like So You Think, just another colour. He is an awesome horse that has a Doncaster and ticked another box there at weight-for-age, but I think 2000m is going suit him without a doubt.

 

“I think he’s done it now in terms of the mile. We need to get a big win at weight-for-age next to his name. He’s a colt, he’s a Doncaster winner, if we can get one of those big ones in Melbourne he is a very valuable horse.”

 

The group 1 capped a remarkable two days for the Waller stable with seven black-type wins, including a cycle at Randwick with the group 1 backed up by a group 2, group 3 and a listed win.

 

But there were a couple of stars in the George Main with Kermadec and Royal Descent again filled the runner-ups stall.

 

Glyn Schofield rode Kermadec as the best horse in the race and he proved it. Kermadec gave the leaders a few lengths at the top of the straight but even on the sticky Randwick track he moved through his gears like a smooth machine but still had work to do 100m out.

 

“At the 100m mark I said to myself, ‘today’s your day, you’ve got to stand up’, and I looked away,” Waller said. “Sure enough he knuckled down so that was good to see.”

 

Pornichet had sat outside the lead and on the turn Blake Shinn went for home and put a couple of lengths on his main chasers, but Schofield, who filled in for the suspended Glen Boss, never panicked. “He was a about three lengths in front of me but wasn’t getting away from me, so I just let him go through his gears and he just kept finding another one,” Schofield said. “He picked up and at the end it was quite soft. He was full of running at the death, so 2000m will not be a problem.”

 

Kermadec was made an $8 equal favourite for the Cox Plate after race, but it was hard not to marvel at Royal Descent, which once again found one too good for her in a group 1.

 

“She’s gallant, she fought all the way to the line today, it was good to see her get to Pornichet late,” Waller said. “We might go to the Epsom, we might go to the Turnbull.” – Chris Roots, Sydney Morning Herald.