Tide turns for Whittingham with Verry special win

Before her 4l win in the G1 Melbourne Cup. Verry Elleegant had already taken everyone involved with her on the most incredible ride, with nine Group 1 wins and honours as Champion Australian Racehorse Of The Year.

But on Tuesday, she not only elevated her ownership, but took all of her native New Zealand and much of Australia on a ride which rewrote the history of the race. After years of difficult moments and conversations around the legacy of the Melbourne Cup, the Champion mare turned the story on its head in 3 minutes and 17 seconds of equine elegance.

"You dream of that stuff when you are sitting in your Year 6 classroom looking at the golden guide," Whittingham told TDN AusNZ.

Whittingham, along with his good mate Manoj Wanzare and a few other Australian interests, had purchased into Verry Elleegant out of New Zealand, joining in with existing owners Jomara Bloodstock, Don Goodwin, who had bred her, and Nick Bishara, who had originally trained her.

"We had seen her win over there and we had heard that she was going to be bought by Darren Weir. We had a couple of horses with Darren at that stage, and we rang him up and asked how much of her we could have."

"He said there was only 15 per cent left and that was before the sale had even been discussed publicly, so we had hunted her pretty early on."

Whittingham and Wanzare had already sought out advice on the daughter of Zed (NZ) from on the ground in New Zealand and thought this was a filly who had plenty of upside.

"The feedback we got was that she had freakish ability but clearly, she was a long way from putting it all together," he said.

"We did work on the pedigree and being by Zed, we felt she had no right to be doing what she was doing as a 2-year-old. No right at all. For her to be running that data and performing at that level, we thought with potential who knows where she might get to, we were dreaming of black type."

History will say that her new owners underestimated her potential. She secured that black-type win with her second start for Weir before two indifferent runs in the G2 Wakeful S. and the G1 VRC Oaks. Weir's sudden disqualification saw the filly then head to Chris Waller's stable, a Champion trainer renowned for his patience with fillies and mares, exactly what Verry Elleegant needed.

The value of patience

Cups king Bart Cummings made many a famous quip during his storied life, but perhaps his most enduring was in relation to patience and racehorses, and how it was so often the most important thing for a trainer to use and always the least used.

Breeding a handful of staying prospects and buying into a few others, Whittingham is of a similar mind.

"We established Honeycomb Stud around five years ago and are really focused on fillies and stayers. We breed some and we buy some. We take our time with them and are very patient," he said.

"We are very much into animal welfare, so we would rather it take longer and a horse is happy and healthy, rather than try and get them through the process quickly."

"We've got a farm called Cross Park where we keep a number of our horses there to spell. It’s river-flat country, and it's beautiful land. We educate and take time with them.

"I've got them with Mick Kent, Brad Widdup, John Thompson, Michael Hickmott, Chris Waller and Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr. We align with those trainers that take their time."

Chasing Oaks

In an industry increasingly enamoured with speed and precocity, Whittingham has plotted a very different path, chasing that dream fostered from a childhood watching Melbourne Cups with his late father and grandfather, who were both front of mind in the emotional aftermath of Tuesday's success.

"We chase Oaks with our fillies and if you do that you hope you might get a Cup runner one day," he said.

While always a big fan of the race growing up, he has had mixed thoughts on the international evolution of the Melbourne Cup in recent years, a trend he was delighted to help buck on Tuesday.

"I reckon the Cup has lost its way with its focus on internationals. Anyone that says we can't produce stayers or breed them is just trying to find the easy way out," he said.

"We spend so much money trying to buy these top rated overseas horses and buy trophies. If we are more patient, maybe the Cup will get back the narrative that it used to have. I'm very passionate about that and a big believer in history.

"Of course internationals have their place. I was a huge fan of Vintage Crop when he won, but it has been dominated by those who have looked to buy the trophy. Yesterday's result was a great one and Incentivise running second was just fantastic for Steve Tregea in particular."

The staying incentive

On Saturday, the John Thompson-trained Le Lude (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a mare Whittingham bred and owns, will contest the G2 Matriarch S. at Flemington in the black, gold and apricot Honeycomb Stud colours.

"She's a huge shot in that race. But it’s a Group 2 over 2000 metres for mares and that's the highest graded race for mares over that distance in the country," he said.

"Why then would breeders invest in staying quality when you can't get rewarded for putting them over those distances?"

Acknowledging he quite literally has a horse in the race when it comes to stayers, Whittingham would also love to see breeders receive bonuses for winning the major staying races like the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup.

"I think we can bring the narrative back to the Melbourne Cup and Australianise the race a little bit more," he said.

"Maybe I'm the silly one. All my stock are stayers and I'm breeding and racing stayers."