Wind And The Lion wins $500,000 Placid Ark, justifying months of expectation from punters about prized gelding

Long-time Listed $500,000 TABtouch Placid Ark Stakes (1200m) favourite Wind And The Lion justified months of lofty wraps by landing the big feature on day one of the Pinnacles carnival.

The $3.80 TABtouch elect was hunted forward by jockey Chris Parnham but could only get as close as seventh, with Golden Vale ($31) kicking up to lead and London’s Image ($18) forcing the pace out three-wide.

Approaching the home bend, Parnham latched onto the back of London’s Image who had moved to challenge Golden Vale, with the two joint leaders by the 350m mark.

Parnham continued to hold onto Wind And The Lion until the 250m when he finally cut the ribbons, but still had at least three lengths to find on the front-runners.

Finally, inside the last 100m, the frantic pace began to fold and Wind And The Lion launched a final flurry to grab the lead 30m from the post.

He drew away to win by a half-length from London’s Image and Golden Vale, who were separated by just a nose.

Co-trainer Jake Casey said the gelding’s temperament was much better than his first-up fourth when a beaten favourite.

“We obviously set him for this race and to pull it off, it’s great,” Casey said.

“We’ve been getting big crowds here the last few weeks and I think the occasion got to him, but today he was a lot better and a lot more composed.”

Casey said the three-year-old could measure up against some of the nation’s best speedsters in the Winterbottom Stakes in two weeks, for which he is an $8 chance.

Chris Parnham said the son of Written By had taken a lot of improvement from his reappearance in the Placid Ark Prelude and had been trained to peak for the final.

“There was a bit of hype around him after his first start and people just probably expected him to pick them up and win,” Parnham said.

“On the day, I was a little bit flat, because I thought he might gobble them up and win but when you sit back and review the race, it was still a very good run to finish where he did.

“He was spotting them a long way first-up and he was going to be better at 1200m, so it was good that he was cherry ripe today.”

Earlier, Rope Them In ($8) further enhanced his prospects for the Winterbottom Stakes in a fortnight’s time with victory in the Group 3 $200,000 Colonel Reeves Stakes (1100m).

Settling back fourth last, the Steve Wolfe-trained gelding was level-pegging with Western Empire ($2.60) by the 600m, but crucially was able to make ground around the outside while the favourite was pinned on the fence.

Peeling five-wide once straightening, Rope Them In sizzled to the front with 200m to go, with Western Empire finally gaining clear running to charge after him.

But Rope Them In’s brilliant dash proved too much to overcome, with the four-year-old holding on to score by three-quarters-of-a-length.

Another son of Playing God would later claim Group 3 glory, with Mojo Rhythm regaining top form by winning his first race since last year’s edition of the $200,000 R J Peters Stakes (1500m) and banking his place for another attempt at the Railway Stakes next week.

The gelding hit the bridle hard after the start, with jockey Patrick Carbery tugging against the six-year-old to restrain him back to third last before weaving through congestion nearing the turn.

The $26 roughie let down inside the final 200m to claim the front just before the post before holding off the late thrust of Yonga Lass ($6).