Group 1 roughie king Ryan Maloney strikes again in Queensland Derby with Maison Louis
Jockey Ryan Maloney seized a sliding doors moment to again prove the king of the Group 1 roughies, as Maison Louis pinched the Queensland Derby for proud former Queenslander John O'Shea.
It wasn't quite the blowout result that Maloney conjured in last year's Group 1 Queensland Oaks when Socks Nation shocked everyone including Maloney as a $101 winner.
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But Maison Louis, trained by O'Shea and his training partner Tom Charlton, was sent out at $21 in a Derby which was set alight by a mid-race move by James McDonald on favourite Belle Detelle who shot to the lead.
Belle Detelle couldn't go on with it, finishing seventh, as the O'Shea team grabbed the quinella with King Of Thunder ($12) finishing runner-up.
The Derby had been meant to be raced seven days earlier with Ben Melham poised to ride Maison Louis.
But with Melham pre-planning a family holiday, Maloney made the most of his opportunity to score another Group 1.
The former Victorian jockey now has six career Group 1 wins and four of them have come in his adopted Queensland home.
O'Shea was born and raised in Mareeba, Queensland, and loves few things more than having Group 1 success in the Sunshine State including winning the Stradbroke Handicap with Private Steer in 2003.
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'I'm a proud Queenslander, not just a Queenslander, so it's a big thrill today,' O'Shea said.
'He's just a tough, resilient little horse and he's come from obscurity to win a Queensland Derby so we're very excited.
'He's just been a progressive horse by a top young stallion in Super Seth.
'I think the key was that he was able to cope with the workload.'
The rescheduled Derby lost a runner before the start with one of the fancies, South Australian visitor Party Crasher, being taken out at the barriers.
It meant Craig Williams was without a ride.
But there was a hungry Queensland jockey looking to seize his chance on Maison Louis.
Ryan Maloney returns to the winner's stall on Maison Louis. Picture: Trackside Photography
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'It was a very dawdling run Derby, and when J-Mac sort of made his move at the half-mile, he increased the tempo, but not by a hell of a lot,' Maloney said.
'When he got the gap, he pinned his ears back and was just tough as nails.
'Last week, my (Derby) emergency got a run.
'But this week, I didn't have a Derby ride initially and luckily I picked it up.
'It is amazing what a week can do.'
Mark Zahra, riding the winner's stablemate King Of Thunder, thought he had the race at his mercy.
'He ran really well, I thought we had it won but the stablemate just beat him,' Zahra said.
Statuario, trained by Emma-Lee and David Browne, started well fancied at $5 but was never in the picture and finished 14th and beaten 10 lengths.
'Very disappointing,' jockey John Allen said.
'We never got into a good rhythm, and we were always just on one rein.
'We struggled from the 500m mark.'
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