By Richard Edmunds
Saturday’s G2 Ted Van Heemst S. at Ascot delivered another highlight in a breakthrough campaign for Truly Great (Dundeel {NZ}), who took his bank balance past the million-dollar mark.
After winning five of his first nine starts in lower grades, the Bob and Sandra Peters homebred stepped up to stakes level for the first time with an appropriate victory in last month’s G3 R J Peters S.
Group 1 glory followed soon afterwards in the Kingston Town Classic on December 5, and on Saturday the 5-year-old stretched out over 2100 metres and delivered the same result.
Champion jockey William Pike kept the front-running Trap For Fools (Poet’s Voice {GB}) firmly in his sights throughout the race, creeping closer coming up to the home turn and then going into full flight at the top of the straight.
Truly Great quickened impressively and powered past Trap For Fools, opening up a winning margin of 1.75l.
“Most people were expecting him to be too good today, and I’m just glad I held up my end of the bargain,” Pike said.
“You have to respect Trap For Fools – his career might be winding down now, but he’s still a tough old horse and hard to get past.
“Once I established my spot in midfield and Trap For Fools wasn’t able to get that far away from me coming up to the home turn, I was pretty confident.
“Once I established my spot in midfield and Trap For Fools wasn’t able to get that far away from me coming up to the home turn, I was pretty confident." - William Pike
“When you’re riding such a short-priced favourite, you want to make sure you’re out in the clear and ready to fire in the straight. Fortunately we got into the right spot and he was too good.”
Trained by Grant and Alana Williams, Truly Great has now won eight of his 13 starts and $1.02 million in stakes.
Alana and Grant Williams
Truly Great delivered a sixth Ted Van Heemst S. win in the last seven years for Bob Peters, who captured it with Regal Power (Pierro) 12 months ago, following on from previous winners Galaxy Star (Redoute’s Choice), Perfect Reflection (More than Ready {USA}), Delicacy (Al Maher) and Elite Belle (Canny Lad).
The Van Heemst is often regarded as a key lead-up to the G2 Perth Cup, while Regal Power used it as a stepping stone towards All-Star Mile glory in Melbourne. Peters has yet to decide which path to follow with Truly Great.
“He looked very good today, he did that very easily,” he said. “He seems to look better, bigger and stronger every time he comes here. He looks like he could race on for another six months.
“We’ll have to think about the Perth Cup, but I’d say he probably won’t go there. Whether we give him a spell now and take him to Melbourne later on, we’ll have to wait and see. A lot is going to depend on how he pulls up after this.
“I don’t think we know yet what his best trip is. The way he handled the race today, it’s obvious that 2000 or 2100 metres suits him well. I think he’d handle 2400. He’s bred to do it. His mother got up over ground and is by Jeune, while Dundeel won an Australian Derby as he liked. I think there’s no reason why this fellow shouldn’t stay.”
