 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1993
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Chokin is too strong for Blossom Lady |
A good crowd, an exciting race, a finish which had everyone on their feet and a performance to marvel at. Those were the ingredients that made the 1993 DB Draught Easter Cup one of the more memorable races seen at Addington in recent years. From the time the 'guns' - Blossom Lady, Christopher Vance and Chokin - came into the race with sweeping runs in the middle stages, it was obvious something special was about to happen.
Anthony Butt took Blossom Lady into the lead with 1500m to run, forcing Christopher Vance to sit parked, while Chokin was fortunate to drop into the one-one after tracking then around when Mac Magpie was unable to match the torrid tempo. The pace had been merry from the outset but Blossom Lady wound things up another notch. Obviously at the top of her game at present, Blossom Lady attempted to grind her rivals into submission and had Christopher Vance struggling a long way out.
But the big threat was always going to be Chokin, who despite an early mistake which added to his 15m handicap, received a relatively economical passage over the last mile. 'The Bloss' skipped clear on the corner and for a moment it appeared she might have enough of a break to win the Cup for the second time. But Chokin, a star half her age and also at the top of his form, was not to be denied and got up in the dying stages to win going away by a length.
It was an enormous performance by the Vance Hanover gelding, and there was just as much merit in the run of Blossom Lady. The heat was really only on up front from the mile, but Chokin was timed over his last 2400m in 2:57, 2000m in 2:24.3, 1600m in 1:56 and 800 in 56.6, completing the 3200m journey in 4:03.
Only Insutcha, last year's winner of the event in 4:02.4, has paced a faster two mile trip at night and on this occasion a chilly wind made conditions less than conducive to fast times. "I didn't want to have to chase him up with the whip unless I had too, and I didn't," said driver Tony Herlihy.
The 10m runners, Sogo, Two Under and Butler's First, were next in a gap of three and a half lengths, really only in a race for the third cheque, while Christopher Vance faded to ninth and disappointed trainer-driver Barry Purdon. While the 6-year-old winner of over $1.5m is obviously badly disadvantaged by handicap racing, he is still not the force he was at four and five in open class racing. "He had a tough run but a horse of his class should have finished closer than that. We will have to get the vet to have a look at him," said Purdon.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 7Apr93