Defibrillate claims consecutive wins in Mornington Cup Prelude

[Wandering Eyes]

Defibrillate (NZ) ridden by Billy Egan wins the Mornington Cup Prelude for the second year in a row. (Pat Scala/Racing Photos)

The Patrick Payne-trained Defibrillate has won the Listed Mornington Cup Prelude (2000m) at Caulfield for the second year running.

It was a terrific training performance by Payne to get the seven-year-old to win first-up over the 2000m journey.

On a day where many front-runners were successful, jockey Billy Egan was happy to settle back in field where he found a position on the rail. Egan was then able to come off the fence coming around the home bend to find a clear path through the field to record a strong victory.

The well backed odds-on favourite, Desert Icon, hit the front at the top of the straight, but was no match for Defibrillate in the final furlong where the gelding drew away to score by a length-and-a-quarter.

Defibrillate takes out the Mornington Cup Prelude two years in a row pic.twitter.com/WUb4lazqXi

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It was a terrific ride from Egan who remained calm despite being locked away on the fence before finding a gap.

“It unfolded perfectly for me,” he told Racing.com after the event.

“I just had to be patient, keep him balanced and just get him through there smoothly.”

Connections look to have found the right distance range for the gelding after a winless Spring with him last preparation.

“He probably just went down a different path over the Spring trying to get him over a few Cup distances,” Egan said.

“What we found is he’s a nice 2000m horse, so probably just had to get him back to his natural best distance.”

The discovery of his best distance range means that it is unlikely the galloper will go on to the Listed Mornington Cup (2400m) after winning its prelude today.

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