The Group I VRC Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington Saturday featured a crack field of colts including Group I winners Tagaloa and Ole Kirk, but victory went to unheralded Foxwedge colt Lunar Fox, who started at the odds of 300-1.
Trained by Paul Preusker of Surprise Baby fame, Lunar Fox started his career with Karina and Terry O’Sullivan for whom he won the Group II VRC Sires Produce Stakes as a two year-old.
His form last spring was inconclusive with his best effort a fifth in the Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas beaten three and a half lengths.
Resuming from a spell in the Group III VRC CS Hayes Stakes earlier this month, Lunar Fox failed to flatter at odds of 150-1 and connections elected to try him in blinkers as a last ditch attempt to bring out his best for the Australian Guineas.
Lunar Fox powered to the line for Michael Dee to score a half length win over Cherry Tortoni with Tagaloa in third place taking his overall record to three wins from 13 starts with prizemoney topping $870,000.
It was the first Group I win for trainer Paul Preusker and fifth for Michael Dee.
Paul Preusker was not at the track but his partner Holly McKecknie was beyond happy with the win.
“Wow, it’s a bit surreal really at this stage, I can’t believe it,” she said.
“He’s always had a lot of ability, but last start he just raced below par and we couldn’t find any issues, so we did the old trick of the blinkers and it seems to have done the job!”
A three-time veteran of the sales ring, Lunar Fox could not find a buyer as a weanling at the Great Southern Sale, as a yearling at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale before TKO Racing shelled out $40,000 at the Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale where he was consigned by Kelly Thoroughbreds.
He is the best of two winners out of the stakes-winning import Grant’s Moon (USA), a Malibu Moon mare that died last year leaving a yearling filly by Frosted (USA) as her final foal.
Lunar Fox is the fifth Group I winner for Woodside Park Stud’s Foxwedge and is his first winner at the elite level that is a colt with the others – Run Fox Run, Foxplay, Volpe Veloce and Urban Fox - being female.
Foxwedge was popular with Victorian breeders last spring covering 114 mares at a fee of $11,000.
