James Mcdonald has continued his domination of the Caulfield Cup Carnival adding to his Group 1 haul with victory in the Thousand Guineas on Wednesday.
After two Group 1 wins for Godolphin and James Cummings at Caulfield last Saturday – aboard Anamoe and Golden Mile – it was the turn of Chris Waller when McDonald guided Madame Pommery to victory in the 1600m event for three-year-old fillies.
McDonald will miss the final day of the Caulfield three-day meeting when he stays in Sydney to ride at The Everest meeting at Randwick where he will partner Nature Strip in the feature.
In an inspired ride, McDonald cut the corner on Madame Pommery ($9.50) to race to a 1-½ length win from Revolutionary Miss ($21) with She’s Licketysplit ($4.20) a neck away third.
McDonald said he decided on the shortest route home which proved a winning move.
“At some point in time they’re going to overdo it and I reckon that had come to the time and a lot of the races are pace related as well,” McDonald said.
“I was very comfortable with where I was, it was so economical tucked away where I was.
“A Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott-trained runner (North Star Lass) ridden by Timmy Clark was always going to get to the right spot and he took me to the right spot at the right time and my filly was classy enough to get the job done.
“Chris has had faith in this filly and hence why he brought her down and he asked me to come down.
“He said she would be very hard to beat, and he was quietly confident.”
After racing well on wet tracks in the lead-up to the Group 1 Flight Stakes at Randwick 11 days ago, Madam Pommery had been racing well before disappointing last time.
McDonald walked the Caulfield track and while it was on the softer side than what he was hoping for, it was better than expected.
“You have to remember that they were deep tracks at home, and this is not a deep track and not tired,” McDonald said.
“She skipped though it OK, she ran the mile out very strongly and she was the right filly on the day.
“She had the superior form coming through, albeit a fair way off the top fillies in Sydney, but she had excuses on those wet tracks.”