Well Deserved Group 1 For Alcopop

Saturday, 03 November 2012 03:33

Alcopop finally cracked it for a Group 1 win at Flemington this afternoon, collecting the Longines Mackinnon Stakes after a superbly judged ride by Craig Williams.

Alcopop Ranges Outside Glass HarmoniumAlcopop's trainer Jake Stephens dumped regular rider Dominic Tourneur in what he described as a "ruthless" move after an ill judged ride cost Alcopop victory in the Caulfield Cup at his previous start.

In contrast to his Caulfield Cup run where Tourneur arguably went 100 metres too early and lost lengths navigating the home turn, Williams ride was a picture of perfection.

Dropping Alcopop out of the barriers in last place, Williams took every advantage during the race to improve his position, going to seventh at the 1600m, sixth at the 1200m and fifth at the 600m. From there, Alcopop, which was racing inside hot favourite Ocean Park stayed on the rails while Glen Boss opted to go wide to make a run at the leader Glass Harmonium, winner of last year's Mackinnon.

But Glass Harmonium, ridden a heady race by Damien Oliver showed little sign of weakening until the last 100 metres, leaving Alcopop as the main challenger after getting clear of December Draw.

The ground saved by Williams on Alcopop ($5.00-$6.00) won the race, with him gaining a neck advantage on Glass Harmonium ($12-$14) at the post, while Ocean Park's ($1.60-$1.75-$1.70F) much vaunted "bunny hunting" talents failed him in the push to overhaul the leaders.

Stephens was understandably delighted to see Williams land Alcopop as his first Group 1 winner.

“It was a brilliant ride for him to come up the inside them and sit inside Ocean Park”, he said.

“When I saw Ocean Park go out wide I was saying ‘go the inside, go the inside’ and it was just an amazing run.”

Williams was gracious about picking up the winning ride from Tourneur, considering it was his ride on Dunaden which beat Alcopop in that race.

"I was very fortunate to get the ride because Dominic Tourneur was very unlucky last time and he ran into a horse like Dunaden", he said.

Alcopop"It was nice competition when Damien went out in front and you know that horse won the race last year and is hard to run down and we only just got him late."

"We had to do a lot of work to get to him and Glen (Boss (Ocean Park) had me covered the whole race."

Alcopop was favourite for the Melbourne Cup two years ago and had a year off before making his return to Flemington today after a series of striking runs during the Spring. Rather than tackling the Cox Plate this year, Stephens elected to try for the Mackinnon, knowing that a fresher Alcopop would be hard to beat.

"The race is all about him and Jake Stephens for what they've done. I love that they actually targeted this race and didn't go too many times", Williams observed.

"As Jake said before the race, he is a gentleman of the turf and he walks around like he's been here his whole life and he is an eight-year-old so he has been here a helluva long time."

"When he gets onto the track he turns into race mode and when the chips were down he was really good today."

For Stephens, the win has seen him come of age as a trainer.

“The horse is just a champion and he has made me as a trainer”, he said.

By former Swettenham Stud stallion Jeune, himself a Melbourne Cup winner, Alcopop represents the latest of 27 stakes winners. He joins Mummify, True Stell and Young Centaur as Group 1 winners. With today's $600,000 prizemoney he brings Alcopop's earnings to nearly $1.7 million.

Photos: Fiona Tomlin