Winning Horse: Independent Road (Aus)

4yoG Declaration Of War (USA) - Malibu Road (USA)(Malibu Moon (USA))

24 starts - 4 wins 4 seconds 3 thirds 6 fourths $433540

Black Type Placings

2nd LR Flemington Mcgregor Super Impose Stakes 1800m (2019)

Other Wins

1st Sandown-Hillside Ladbrokes Blended Multi (Bm78) 1800m (2021)

1st Flemington Living Legends (Bm70) 1720m (2020)

1st Flemington H Bowman Hall Of Fame Trophy 1400m (2019)

Other Placings

3rd Mornington Catanach's Jewellers (Bm78) 1600m (2021)

3rd Sandown-Lakeside Ladbrokes Odds Boost (Bm84) 1600m (2021)

2nd Flemington Kennedy Trophy (Bm84) 1600m (2021)

3rd Caulfield Quayclean (Bm78) 1600m (2021)

2nd Flemington Flt Lt Peter Armytage Hcp 1700m (2020)

2nd Bendigo Bendigo Mazda Mdn Plate 1400m (2019) (Debut Run)

Race Result:

1st: Independent Road (M Zahra/T Dabernig & B Hayes) - $7

2nd: Grand Promenade (J McNeil/C Maher & D Eustace) - $4.40
3rd: Wyclif (W Price/D O’Brien) - $2.60F

Winning Time: 2:04.49 Last 600m: N/A

Margins: Short ½ Head x 1L

Winning Trainer: Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes (rep by Dara O’Meachair)

“He’s gone from strength-to-strength stepping up to benchmark 84 today and ran out a strong 2000 metres which was going to be the query in the past, but probably looked beaten 100 metres out but to his credit and Mark’s he was in for the fight and it was great to see him continue on his winning ways.

“I thought the runner-up was going to come up and beat up because he had a nice sit behind us in the run and I thought he might have been a bit tougher but to our horse’s credit he was really game and he knew where the line was. All credit to him.”

Winning Jockey: Mark Zahra

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure about the 2000 metres and the soft track. I had a nice run and sat off Vegas Knight. He’s got the fight. I thought Grand Promenade had me cold but two of (manager) Reece Murphy’s jockeys battling it out and my horse got his head down at the right time.

“At the 200 (metre mark) there wasn’t much between them and I put it (the whip) in the left (hand) and I gave it a little hit and then he seemed to pick up. Right when he was up on the other horses’ heads he really stuck his head out.

“To be honest I thought he nipped me on the line so I was happy to see my big head on the camera when we came back.”

Does changing the whip hand make the difference: “Sometimes it makes no difference but in a tight finish if you can just, in Melbourne a lot of jockeys are right-handed, so if you can just find an extra nose which is all you need, sometimes it can make a difference.”