Defiant Dee guides Supernima to Flemington triumph

[Wandering Eyes]

A sage ride by Michael Dee has aided Supernima (NZ) (Super Seth) to claim a gutsy victory in the Thank You Volunteers Trophy (1400m) at Flemington on Saturday.

The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained son of Super Seth had a declared change of tactics with the intention to settle further back.

But Dee summed up the situation perfectly after jumping away well and there being little to no pressure on leader Prancing Spirit (Sir Prancealot), electing to roll forward and sit outside the pacemaker as the contest turned into a sit-and-sprint affair.

Sporting the colours of Wylie Dalziel Roy Higgins Racing, the four-year-old gelding dug deep in the straight to defy Ndola (Justify) and Prancing Spirit as he notched his fourth win from 18 starts with a further eight placings.

“We had a bit of a theory in place today,” Coleman said. “We thought he was better when he was ridden a little bit colder and we weren’t 100 percent sure on the 1400m. But he’s put pay to both of those questions today and it was a great ride from Mick.

“We’d worded him up beforehand that we wanted to try and ride the horse a little bit colder and when it wasn’t going to work out, instead of sitting back there in no man’s land, he took the race into his own hands and elected to roll forward when there wasn’t much pace on.

“It was the ride that won the race.

“It was a tough gritty win and I’m really pleased for these connections as well. It’s always special to get a win in the Wylie Dalziel colours but this crew especially, they’ve been very patient.

“He’s always promised to deliver them a nice Saturday city winner and to get it at Flemington it’s extra special.

“He’s very, very honest. He doesn’t know how to run a bad race and if we can just keep placing him to advantage, I think he can keep delivering.”

Supernima is by Waikato Stud’s outstanding young sire Super Seth and is out of the Dubai Destination mare Purnima (AUS), making him a half-brother to stakes winners Tomelilla (NZ) (Tavistock) and Viktor Vegas (NZ) (Tavistock).

Bred by Bob Emery, Supernima was purchased by Dalziel Bloodstock and Moody Racing for $80,000 from the draft of Woburn Farm at the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales.

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