English has completely surprised the audience with an unexpected win beating old foes Impending, Le Romain and Redel in the Doomben 10,000

 

English thundered down the inside, an unexpected course under jockey Tim Clarke, who celebrates his second Doomben 10,000 win.

 

Sweeping past, speedy Godolphin finisher, Impending, the mare won the race by a long head. Le Romain was a half a neck behind in third place just ahead of favourite Redzel. The other favourite In Her Time however disappointed at crunch time. A post-race vet exam revealed soreness on both front fetlock and short riding in front. She also had an elevated heart rate.

 

Clark's previous 10,000 win came on Hot Danish, when it was a 1350-metre event in 2010, while the win made it two Group 1 victories in as many weeks after claiming the Sangster Stakes on Shoals.

 

Although trainer Gai Waterhouse’s father Tommy Smith holds the record for the Doomben 10,000 training wins with six, it’s a treasured one for training partners Waterhouse and Bott. Their first.

 

The Hall of Famer wasn’t on course to watch her protégé win but Adrian Bott said, “Today everything fell into place (we had an) in-form jockey, who made all the right decisions, she came up here and presented in great order so it was good to see it all fall into place for her.”

 

The Newhaven Park bred mare took her record to six wins from 25 starts and lifted her career earnings to A$3.5 million.

 

Defending champion Redzel was in the lead from the start but was overtaken at the last minute by fellow Everest (2017) contender English.

Trainer Kerrin Mc Evoysaid Redzel had run well and was beaten only a half-length after being attacked in the lead. ‘He gave a good kick in the straight but was beaten by a couple of better horses on the day,,’ McEvoy said.

 

Godolphin’s Impending, who has a stud career waiting after the end of the current season us expected to feature in the Gr.1 Stadbroke Handicap next month, facing-off against English yet again.

 

The son of Lonhro stormed home from beyond mid-field to be narrowly beaten by English. “In another couple of stride he’d have won,” said jockey Damian Browne.

 

Prior to the race, trainer Toby Edmonds thought it could be a kamikaze mission if his speedy filly Houtzen tried to lead the Gr.1 Doomben but he firmly believed that she could win even if it meant jockey Bayliss had to pull a rabbit out of his hat. In the end, the I am Invincible filly crossed the wire 7.8 lengths behind the Encosta De Lago mare.

 

English is entered for three group one races - Kingford Smith, Stradbroke and Tatts Tiara. However the rumour which has all the set all the rags ablaze is that English and Redzel are set for another clash in the next Everest edition (2018). The richest race on turf will also feature superstar Trapeze Artist and fellow Doomben 10,000 runner In Her Time.

 

English (1), Impending (2), Le Romain (3), Redzel (4), Spieth (5), Care To Think (6), Burning Passion (7), Most Important (8), In Her Time (9), The Mission (10), Monsieur Gustave (11) and Houtzen (12).

 

The 2018 BRC Doomben 10,000 is a Group I held over a distance of 1200 metres at Doomben Racecourse with total prizemoney of $700,000.00.