JOCKEY Dean Yendall yesterday claimed consecutive Colac Gold Cup victories when he guided the Darren Weir-trained Chord to a comfortable win.
Yendall, who won the race last year on board the Bill and Symon Wilde-trained Constant Force, hit the right note yesterday when he swept to the front down the outside with 100 metres to go.
Chord finished three lengths clear of favourite Gottino, while the Mike Moroney-trained Lordoftheparrots was third in the 2000-metre race.
Yendall and Weir had a day out at Colac, combining for two wins in earlier races.
Meanwhile, Warrnambool businessman Colin McKenna celebrated Gregers’ fourth placing in the $1 million Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.
He described the result as one of his career highlights in racing.
McKenna and his partner Janice Thomson bred and reared Gregers at Woolsthorpe before the filly joined the stables of high-profile trainer David Hayes.
“To run fourth in the Blue Diamond was really exciting,” he said.
“To think she was bred and raised out at The Union in Woolsthorpe and was running in Victoria’s premier two-year-old race is amazing.
“She did a lot of work in the run from her wide barrier and was still boxing on at the end of 1200m, which was great.
“We never thought of her as a two-year-old type. We’ve always thought she would be better when she was a three and four-year-old and preferably over more ground than 1200m.”
McKenna said Hayes might now spell Gregers.
“He’ll just take her back to his Euroa stables and see how she pulls up after the run. We don’t want to rush her,” he said.
“I think if we give her a bit of time to mature, she will develop into a really nice filly who should turn out to be a really good broodmare.”
In other racing news, jockey Brad Rawiller gave a glowing report to the connections of Spirit Song and her Warrnambool trainer Aaron Purcell following an unlucky sixth placing in the $150,000 Mannerism Stakes, also at Caulfield on Saturday.
Rawiller said the first-up run of Spirit Song in the group 3 race was outstanding.
Purcell said Spirit Song, which finished one length from eventual winner Star Of Giselle, was back further in the run than he had anticipated.
“We thought she might have been a bit closer in the earlier stages of the race but when they slowed the pace of the race it never helped her,” Purcell said.
“She ran on well over the concluding stages. I was really pleased with her efforts.
“If she had some luck in the run, she would have finished closer.”
The trainer will now push ahead with plans to run Spirt Song in the $150,000 group 3 Schweppervescence Stakes over 1600m at Flemington on March 9 and the $220,000 Sunline Stakes over 1600m under lights at Moonee Valley on March 22.