A field of battled hardened old warriors lined up for the Listed Bagot Handicap at Flemington on New Year’s Day and at the end of the 2800 metres mere inches separated the first two across the line.
The Peter Gelagotis-trained El Don, a 7yo son of Don Eduardo, and the Chris Waller-trained High Bridge (GB) a 9yo son of Monsun, had the best runs in the race and they fought out the finish with the verdict going to the former by a short-head.
The top weight Azuro, who looked to be the unlucky runner of the race, was another long-neck away in third.
Winning rider Beau Mertens said it was a just reward for his mount’s consistency.
“He’s such a lovely horse and deserved a win like that,” Mertens said.
“He is honest as the day is long, just look at his form, it’s impeccable.”
That was a sentiment also expressed by the winning trainer.
"This horse has just been putting the writing on the wall in his last three or four runs with no luck whatsoever," Gelagotis said.
"I just loved the way he was taken on the other day and it looked like he was going to run a nice fourth, fifth or sixth but he picked himself up late and his last 100 metres was super (to finish third).
"On the way home I said to (brother) Manny and the crew, 'this is a race that's in our keeping'.
"I had the same gut feeling when Module won this race several years ago."
“It was deja vu, Module draw barrier one, this bloke drew barrier one so it all planned out perfectly.
“This horse was raced in Singapore by Stephen Gray who is a good friend of hours and because of the lack of staying races in Singapore he saw fit to send him to us and it’s been a great result for his owners.”
El Don advances his record to 6 wins, 3 seconds and 6 thirds from 36 starts with earnings of $315,199.
He is the best of five winners from seven to race out of the Woodman (USA) mare Divinity whose dam Remind Me (Riverman) is a sister to the French Group III winner River Nymph and hails from the family of Zabeel who is the sire of El Don’s sire Don Eduardo who took his stakes-winning tally to 12.
