Won in the last two years by Ole Kirk and Microphone the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m) at Flemington has been the springboard to success for the likes of Miss Finland, Star Witness and All Too Hard.
Time will tell whether Saturday’s winner Ingratiating will measure up to any of those, but one thing for sure he is doing a wonderful ambassador for his first season sire Frosted (USA).
Ridden by Damien Oliver for trainer James Cummings, Ingratiating was always in the firing line down the outside of the straight.
Carrying a penalty for winning the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes, Ingratiating hit the front a long way from home.
The debutant Gimmie Par (Not A Single Doubt), a half-sister to last years Talindert and Caulfield Guineas winner Ole Kirk, finished resolutely to get withing half a length of the winner.
It was another two and a half lengths back to Birdsville who provided Sooboog with his first black-type performer.
Coming off a second to this seasons benchmark two-year-old, Enthaar, in the Group III Chairman's Stakes at Caulfield, Ingratiating advances his record to two wins and two seconds from four starts with earnings of $274,000.
“He is a real professional and that’s what we saw in the springtime,” James Cummings said.
“He was one of our most precocious two-year-olds. We had a really high opinion of him when he won a stakes race on debut and it’s nice to get him back here to Flemington and put pay to them like that.”
Cummings said he thought the addition of blinker had been a positive.
“First-up he probably didn’t find himself in a race where he could find a comfortable spot. We felt like he might have needed a good hit out today and that’s why James applied the blinkers and he obliged nicely.”
Cummings sounded quite upbeat in Ingratiating backing up again in next weeks Blue Diamond.
“He got to the front a fair bit from home and looked like he was doing it quite easily with Damien,” he said.
“He was probably just a little bit harder on him than he needed to be just because he was left in front on him for so long. I can’t imagine the horse being too affected by that run so we’ll see how he pulls up and James will make the decision early in the week.”
If Ingratiating takes his place next week Damien Oliver may have a decision to make.
‘I’ve always had good opinion of him since I first rode him,” Oliver said.
“There was little between him and Anamoe. I always thought that he might want some blinkers and when we put them on during the week, you rarely see a horse improve like he did with them. I was expecting a big showing from him today.
“My only concern was that he had 59 (kilos) as a two-year-old against what looked like a reasonable race. He’s done a good job there today.”
A homebred for Godolphin, Ingratiating is the fourth winner from as many foals to race out of Lonhro’s Group II ATC Light Fingers Stakes and Group III San Domenico Stakes winning daughter Obsequious.
Obsequious has a yearling filly by Sepoy named Surrenders and was covered by Russian Revolution last spring after coming up negative to an earlier cover by Frosted (USA).
