Enigmatic five-year-old gelding Hedged is now one step away from realising his full potential after scoring an upset win in the $350,000 Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m) at Pakenham on Friday night.
A small but select field of six quality sprinters soon became four as the field turned for home, with the Patrick Kearney-trained Cannonball going amiss, with Maharba, trained by Grahame Begg, suffering severe interference as a consequence.
It left Hedged ($7.20), race-favourite War Machine ($1.30), 2024 winner Veight ($19) and Ciaron Maher’s 2024 The Meteorite winner Nadal ($5.50) to fight out the first ever Group 2 to be run at Tynong.
The field was spread across the track at the 300, with no more than half length of separation, before the son of Capitalist/Acing Shamrock kicked into top gear in the straight.
Harry Coffey powered Hedged to victory, winning by two lengths on the line with Veight running home for second and War Machine fading late into third place.
Hedged smashed the track record over the six-furlong trip at Pakenham, stopping the clock in 1:07.58.
Hedged, formerly trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, was having his seventh start for Cranbourne trainer Gavin Bedggood since having his first run for the stable in early October last year.
He showed his best form at Sandown on Boxing Day, winning the $200,000 Listed Christmas Stakes (1200m) but then disappointed greatly when starting a $2.90 favourite in the $200,000 Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on January 10.
But the real Hedged returned at Pakenham, taking a big step towards justifying Bedggood’s high opinion of the horse.
“He did dig deep, and when this Hedged turns up he’s a serious horse,” said stable representative Darryl Horner.
“Gavin is convinced he’s a Group 1 horse, and when this Hedged turns up he is a Group 1 horse.
“He’s a bit of a head scratcher now and again, sometimes he doesn’t turn up, but when he does…War Machine is a group one winner in his own right.”
Horner said the stable was perplexed by the poor run of Hedged at Flemington.
“He’s a funny sort of horse, he’s been good all prep, good going into every single run,” he said.
“Can’t really put our finger on it, he’s pretty much the same the whole way through; they’re animals I suppose.
“They can’t really talk; we’ll just get home, see where we go, and Gavin will plot a path for him.
“Gavin is over in New Zealand at the moment at the sales, they’re two hours in front of us, so he might not get much sleep tonight.”
Coffey rode a patient race, reverting to Plan B after the initial blueprint was scrapped.
“I overthought it probably a few times and then I thought just keep it simple,” Coffey explained post-race.
“We actually wanted to lead tonight and just get it all on his terms, but old Veight was pretty fast out of the machine.
“He had more speed than us and I was really going to have to bustle through to hold him out.”
The unfortunate drama surrounding Cannonball allowed Coffey to hedge his bets in running.
“I found myself in a little bit of a predicament, but when the field broke up, when unfortunately, Cannonball went amiss, it sort of broke up and I was able to get to the outside of the heels of Veight,” he said.
“As soon as I flicked across to the outside of heels, he grabbed the bridle, picked up underneath me and he was a different horse.
“He’s amazing because outside of horses he’s so much happier compared to being bustled up on the inside.
“You don’t get to choose your barriers but he might be one that’s better suited drawing out.”
Coffey said allowing Hedged more room in running night be a good Plan A moving forward.
“I’ve had three rides on him now for two wins and people go ‘you must have the key to him’, but I don’t really know, he’s very unique, he’s a bit of an unusual individual,” he said.
“Both times he has been dynamic and ran right through the line is when he was to the outside of horses.
“So, I suppose, that’s something that we could read into.”
Coffey then praised the training feat of Bedggood, who trusted his instincts after Hedged frustrated owners, trainer and punters at Flemington.
“He’s very good at placing his horses, and I told him to put this old horse in the paddock after he went horrible at Flemington, but he just said he couldn’t find any reason to put him in the paddock,” Coffey explained.
“He just wiped it, trusted his horse and his stable and his own systems and brought him here tonight and was rewarded with a group two race.
“He’s a better trainer than I would be; I would have had this horse in the paddock and missed tonight.”
The Capitalist breed provided both the highlight and devastating moment of the Australia Stakes, with Cannonball – Capitalist/Golcondo – being euthanised at the track.
