A 'Brazen' Upset in Lexus Newmarket
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Three-year-old Brazen Beau pulled a huge upset March 14 in winning the Lexus Newmarket Handicap (Aus-I) at Flemington, while Australian Horse of the Year Lankan Rupee not only was beaten but failed to place.
Winner of the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Aus-I) last November at Flemington, Brazen Beau was well regarded given his 14-pound weight advantage from Lankan Rupee, the 129-pound highweight. He won comfortably by 2 3/4 lengths from multiple group winner Chautauqua (122), with group I winner Terravista (125) 1 1/4 lengths back in third, and a lackluster Lankan Rupee a well-beaten sixth in the field of nine.
Waterman Bays showed plenty of early speed, and jockey Joao Moreira positioned Brazen Beau ahead of the rest. A bit earlier than expected, Moreira pulled the brakes off 300 meters out and Brazen Beau unleashed an electrifying rally to secure the win.
"He just ran away from them," Moreira told http://www.abc.net.au. "He just jumps, travels nice and then kicks strongly at the finish. From a long way out I knew I was going to win because he was traveling so strongly."
Brazen Beau covered 1,200 meters (about six furlongs) in 1:09.24 on turf rated good for his second top-level triumph at Flemington. In turning the tables on Lankan Rupee after his second-place finish to that rival in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Aus-I) Feb. 21, he earned his fifth overall win from 10 career starts for trainer Chris Waller.
Jockey Craig Newitt said Lankan Rupee was already beaten halfway through the Lexus Newmarket. "He traveled nice enough, but when I went to pick him up he just wasn't there," he said.
Brazen Beau, a son of I Am Invincible bred in Australia by Mrs. B.M. Howlett, is campaigned by a large group of owners. Produced by the winning Snaadee mare Sansadee, who was group III-placed, the colt is penciled in for a trip to Royal Ascot this spring.
Brazen Beau was an AUS$70,000 purchase at the 2013 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from the consignment of Murrulla Stud.