As was widely anticipated, Godolphin did win the listed Lonhro Plate at Randwick Saturday, although not with the horse the market expected. Impressive debut winner Furnaces (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) set off the hot favorite for the 1100-meter contest, yet the colt had to settled for the runner-up spot behind stable mate Haptic (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). The colt, who was another first-time-out winner for Godolphin in January, led from wire to wire to win by three-quarters of a length.
“He's a big, tough, hardy fella and Blake [Shinn] rode him accordingly,” said John O'Shea, who later made it a Group double for Godolphin at Randwick courtesy of Contributer (Ire). “He is what he is, a jump and run sort of horse that makes his own luck and he's won his way into a Slipper,” he continued. The conditioner indicated the Haptic would likely not race again until the G1 Golden Slipper Mar. 21 at Rosehill, and simply have a barrier trial ahead of the big day.
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