Point of Law, the horse formerly owned by King Charles III, has won the Geelong Cup in commanding style to book a place in the Melbourne Cup.
The four-year-old was having his first start in Australia and just his fifth race, but he sat on the pace throughout before charging away at the top of the straight under jockey Ethan Brown to give Warrnambool-raised trainer Ciaron Maher his first Geelong Cup victory.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained Small Fry chased hard but could not bridge the gap and finished second, meaning his start on the first Tuesday in November is not guaranteed. The UK trainer also prepared Omni man, who ran on to finish third.
Point of Law won a group three race over 2600 metres in the UK in July after being bought by Maher earlier in the year with an eye on him racing in the Melbourne Cup for prominent clients.
Maher joked that his mother Eileen played a role in convincing the royals to part with the horse after she was a guest alongside her son at Royal Ascot, when the connection between the trainer and the royals’ racing operation was forged.
“She certainly would have helped [seal the deal],” Maher said.
The Geelong Cup win was Point of Law’s first start in Australia. It came after Maher had Gilded Water finish second in last year’s race.
“It’s great to win it with such a progressive horse,” Maher said. “He is very lightly raced ... hopefully he pulls up well because he looks like he’ll run two miles.”
Maher said he knew the horse had ability, but there was still some trepidation on Wednesday morning as to whether he would show his class on raceday.
Brown, who now has several options in the Melbourne Cup, said the horse just needed to be managed around the track, but when he kicked clear, he knew he would be hard to run down.
“I just needed to work with him, rather than try to bang him into a spot early,” Brown said. “He’s a racehorse and he wanted to win.”
Earlier, the Maher-trained Murshidi broke his maiden status in the listed three-year-old Geelong Classic, steered to a tough win by Blake Shinn.
Shinn said the horse was “the best stayer” in the race as Maher confirmed the impressively bred colt would contest the VRC Derby.
He showed he will handle the 2500m, Derby as he prevailed in a tough battle with Icy You runner-up and True Tone third.
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