With the Ballan Cup and Wodonga Cup already on the mantlepiece, the Logan McGill-trained Gold Fields added some more silverware and a first black-type win with a courageous performance in Sunday’s $200,000 Listed Sale Cup (1600m) and round out a wonderful weekend for Blue Gum Farm.
Given a positive ride by Stephen Baster, the 7yo son of Churchill Downs was wayward in the straight but was strong in the final 100 metres to win by three-quarter of a length from the Tasmanian Mandela Effect (Turffontein) with Romancer (Redwood) the same distance back in third.
With his first stakes win Gold Fields advances his record to 10 wins, 4 seconds and 6 thirds from 35 starts with earnings of $536,515.
“I’m really pleased to get a Listed win with him because he has been such a good honest old horse,” McGill said.
“We thought a few months back we were going to aim to get him into these sought of races where he gets the minimum and he has got a good turn of foot.
“That’s my third stakes race but the first couple were three or four years ago so it’s a thrill to do it with this horse who is very special to the stable.
“We’ll probably just keep poking around in county cups, he has won a few of them and is racing as well as ever so we will have a look at the calendar and see what’s around for him.”
Bred by the Heffernan family, Gold Fields becomes the fourth stakes-winner on the weekend consigned by Blue Gum Farm after Ideas Man, La Falaise and Sartorial Splendour pulled off a stakes treble on Cox Pate day at Moonee Valley.
Consigned to the 2014 Inglis VOBIS Gold Yearling Sale, the son of Churchill Downs was knocked down to Glenhuntly Lodge for $42,000.
He is the best of four winners from five to race out of the Encosta de Lago mare Gold Delta who is a half-sister to the Listed MRC Blue Sapphire Stakes and Listed Ipswich Cup winner Gold In Dubai (Desert Sun) and the Listed TTC Gold Sovereign Stakes winner Gold Busker (Oratorio).
Gold Delta had not has a live foal in four years before foaling a Danerich filly in October last year.
Gold Fields becomes the sixth stakes-winner for former Blue Gum resident Churchill Downs (Danehill) who was exported to Libya in 2012
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