Godolphin's promising 3yo colt Tin Hat capped a remarkable day for Darley stallions when the son of Helmet earned
It was the third consecutive win for the James Cummings-trained colt who led at every call under Damian Lane to defeat Halvorsen (Magnus) by one and a quarter lengths with Poised To Strike (Akeed Mofeed) a half-head back in third. (photo Grant Courtney )
Godolphin's Melbourne stable representative Kate Grimwade said they seem to have hit on a winning formula with Tin Hat rolling along in the lead.
"He likes to get rolling and he's got a big stride on him," Grimwade told Racing.com.
"He often looks like he's going keen but he's just travelling so well so there's no point breaking that stride on him.
"He's been such a consistent horse this preparation and James (Cummings) has brought him through the grades lovely.
"To end up with a Group win was probably beyond our dreams but for him to do it was great."
Tin Hat's sire Helmet joined Exceed And Excel, Sepoy and Lonhro on the stakes-winning honour roll.
Lonhro featured again as the sire of Tin Hat's dam Syncopated, which would have given prominent trainer and breeder David Brideoake plenty to cheer about as he purchased Syncopated off Darley for just $4,000 through Inglis, as
She carried a negative test but produced a colt by Albrecht in 2017. She missed to Al Maher that year and was covered last spring by one of Brideoake's favourite stallions Good Journey (USA) having failed to conceive from an earlier cover by Nicconi.
A Sydney winner of two races, Syncopated is a three-quarter-sister to Listed winner Warm Love (Octagonal) who placed third in the Group 1 VRC Lightning Stakes.
Tin Hat becomes the eighth stakes-winner for Helmet (Exceed And Excel) who remained in the northern hemisphere last year after six seasons at Darley's Victorian base.
