Godolphin colt Traffic Warden has defied a wide draw and a jinx on Blue Diamond Stakes participants to claim an all-the-way win in the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Flemington.
Jumping from the widest gate under Jamie Kah in the Group 2 contest over 1400m for two-year-olds, Traffic Warden showed tremendous early speed to cross the field and lead on settling down.
Kah held the Traffic Warden together until the 300m mark where he opened up a winning break, holding a comfortable margin on the line.
Traffic Warden ($5) defeated the $3.70 betting site favourite Rue De Royale by 1-¾ lengths with Bosustow ($7) a further length away third.
In winning on Saturday, Traffic Warden became the first two-year-old to be victorious after running in the Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield since Zululand in 2014.
The Blue Diamond had once been the form race leading into the Sires’ until 2005 when the race lost its Group 1 status.
Only three winners had come out of the Caulfield feature since, while there had been only two placegetters at Flemington from the Blue Diamond since 2017.
Nacim Delmi, representing Godolphin trainer James Cummings, said the team had not been explicit in their intentions to lead.
“We never asked Jamie to lead but if the horse were to bounce well then to make the most of it,” Delmi said.
“He bounced very quickly, and she got to the front very easily and we were quite happy with that.
“His run in the Blue Diamond was a lot better than what the result says. He was very strong late and looking for the 1400 (metres).”
Delmi said a return to Sydney for Traffic Warden was likely for another shot at Group 1 races, the ATC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes double, although the Golden Slipper at Rosehill in two weeks’ time could be a possibility.
“When Craig WIlliams rode the horse in the Blue Diamond he did advise of today’s race and also that we could potentially drop him back to 1200 with switching blinkers on and off,” Delmi said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you see him in Sydney in a couple of weeks’ time.”
For Kah, success in Saturday’s race was a far different result from the one in same race 12 months ago when the jockey wound up in hospital following a midrace fall.
Kah said she entered Saturday’s race with no fixed plan, adding the option was there to lead once the field jumped.
“That was the best thing in the end because he jumped too well and I thought ‘beautiful’, so I could slide across and he got there so easily,” Kah said.
“He was entitled to stop late because he did a bit of work, but he was so tough. It helped because he’s so tractable, he came back to me and jumped well.
“It makes our job easy when you ride beautiful horses like this from Godolphin.”