Penny Veejay jumped to near the head of the Kilmore Cup contenders’ list with victory in Saturday night’s $20,000 SEW-Eurodrive The Gammalite at Moonee Valley.
The Jayne Davies-trained seven-year-old’s class prevailed in the 2575-metre staying test, getting him home by a head from Ndizani with Dontfencemein seven-and-a-half metres back in third spot.
With many of the horses he beat last night also on the Kilmore Cup trail, winning driver Chris Alford said the gelding had to be considered a chance in the Group 2 event on Sunday, October 28.
“He’s had four runs back from a spell now and should be getting pretty close to being fit,” Alford said.
“He’s always been good enough to match it with the good ones and he seems a lot stronger now.
“It’s a hard race to win the Kilmore Cup, but if he had a good run he could win it.”
Alford said from the moment $4.70 favourite Manwarra Goforgold galloped away from the inside of the front row in the stand start event he was on good terms with himself aboard Penny Veejay ($4.90), who started off 10 metres.
That allowed him to spear through on the inside and assume the spot behind early leader Ndizani ($11). From there Alford bided his time before zipping home along the sprint lane to get home in the last couple of bounds.
Despite the narrow margin, Alford said he always thought he had the race in his keeping.
“Once he settled behind the leader he was always going to be the one to beat,” the Bolinda-based driver said.
The Gammalite also saw the racetrack return to Hankook Tyres Hunter Cup winner Sting Lika Bee, who ran a brave race after beginning slowly from his 40m handicap to finish within 13 metres of the winner.
But The Gammalite was all about Penny Veejay and Alford. The victory was the middle pin of a winning treble for the reigning metropolitan drivers’ premier.
Earlier in the night he scored an effortless win aboard $1.20 favourite Zonda in the Rypcraft Pty Ltd Pace (1609m), before winning the penultimate race on the card, the Eagle Lightning Pace (2100m), with comeback pacer Bo Jasper
“It was a good night…better than I expected,” Alford said.
“I thought Zonda would win and I thought Penny Veejay was a chance if everything went right, but I didn’t know too much about Bo Jasper. I thought Ladyinred would probably be too good in that one, but everything worked out perfectly.
“We went home smiling for a change.”