Bridal Waltz does it again with Bletchingly Stakes triumph as Peter Moody aims higher

The Australian

2 days ago

Bridal Waltz could step into spring now after a Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) win at Caulfield.
The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained favourite defied a late challenge from backmarker Kin to get the result from gallant Yellow Sam.
Second-elect New York Lustre finished off late to run fourth.
Drama ensued an hour before the Bletchingly, with Baraqiel, the pre-race favourite, scratched on vet advice.
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Racing Victoria vets deemed the comeback sprinter lame in the near foreleg upon inspection.
Moody, who won back-to-back Bletchingly Stakes in 2011-12 with Mid Summer Music and Ready To Rip, was pleased to get the result with Bridal Waltz.
Bridal Waltz won the Listed Creswick Stakes (1200m) at Flemington last start, her main winter target, but did so well post Moody and Coleman tried the Bletchingly.
'I thought her last couple of runs, she probably goes for a spell, but we'll probably take her home and rinse and repeat, take her down the beach and assess her,' Moody said.
'It'd be nice to lift the bar a little bit … do we find a mares' Group 2 now we're a Group 3 winner or have a few weeks off and come back to Flemington in November?
'Chase a stakes race there away from the A-graders, you never know, she might become an A-grader one day the way she's going.'
Bridal Waltz stalked leader and reigning Bletchingly winner Recommendation and let down strongly.
'I was very pleased with where she was in the run,' Moody said.
'Recommendation took her to the right part of the track and carted her well up the straight.
'Good tough effort … we have spaced her runs all the way through, she looks like a hairy little goat.
'She spends most of her time outdoors and down at the beach … in the cold most of it, holds a lot of hair, so she's not overly attracted in the yard but she enjoys that little gap three or four weeks.'
Co-trainer Katherine Coleman with Bridal Waltz after the win. Picture: Getty Images
Jockey Ben Melham enjoyed a second win on Bridal Waltz and managed to dictate tempo albeit from behind the leader.
'Initially I thought he was going to go a little bit slower than I would've liked, I stayed out there and forced him to come up inside me and go the tempo I wanted him to go basically,' Melham said.
'It worked well for us, he got going before the corner … she certainly hasn't gone backwards from that (Creswick Stakes).
'The key to her is not to go too slow, she can actually sustain good gallop and good sectionals and hold it right through the line.'
Godolphin were denied a fairytale Melbourne swan song with Kin best of three starters for James Cummings in the Bletchingly.
Kin snagged back to last from a wide barrier and burst through late to grab second. Inhibitions and Kallos, also trained by Cummings, were unplaced.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Windstorm ends 1750-day drought
- Brad Waters
Victoria was in the grip of Daniel Andrews' enforced COVID-19 lockdowns the last time Windstorm won a race.
The former Perth galloper won the Listed Weekend Hussler Stakes at Caulfield in October 2020, indicating he was a top-class performer in the making.
Few, including previous owner Bob Peters, would have known that would be Windstorm's last win for 1750 days.
Peters moved on Windstorm after a few more injury-plagued years but the imposing galloper finally saluted at the 15th attempt for Cranbourne trainer Gavin Bedggood in the Sportsbet More Places Handicap (1400m).
Jockey Luke Cartwright brought the gelding from last as the $41 chance shattered many quaddies when the pair saluted by a length.
Bedggood said Windstorm had drawn some unwarranted criticism during his long winless period.
'I feel sorry for the horse because people along the way called him a 'nonny' (non-winner) and a cheat and it's not the case,' Bedggood said.
'It's taken a while to figure him out.
'I've wanted to put blinkers on him for the last six months but they haven't been the right races.
'Maybe he doesn't run much past this, a good speed over 1400m, and his three wins have been over that trip.
'We'll try to replicate that type of race going forward.'
Windstorm completed a long-priced double for Bedggood after Behaviour won earlier in the day at $16.
Gilbert Gardiner
Sports reporter
Gilbert Gardiner is a sports reporter for the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun.
@gilbertgardiner
Gilbert Gardiner