With Beauty Flame setting a slow tempo through the first half of the 1600m feature, Designs on Rome's rider Karis Teetan decided to seize the initiative, skirting the field and grabbing a share of the lead 550m out.
"He won his race around the 700 metres," Teetan said. "I was drawn one and I
didn't want to get blocked in on the rail so waited for them to go, pulled him
out and let him find his feet at the back. He's a clever horse – once I pulled
him out and showed him the daylight, at the same time they slowed the pace and
I took the decision to let him go."Designs on Rome was strong to the line, scoring by a neck in 1m 35.36s beating Blazing Speed with another son of Holy Roman Emperor, Beauty Only, in third place.
"He doesn't know how to get beat!" Moore said. "He knows where the line is, and, anything that comes at him, he just knuckles down. It shows how good a horse he is, with that lightning move by Karis when the pace was slackened, that made the difference between winning and losing. Typical him, he never gives up, he does not know how to lose in a fight. He just dug. He's still a force to reckon with."
Holy Roman Emperor made it a weekend stakes double when his three year-old filly Flying Fairies scored a dominant three and a quarter length win in the Listed Trigo stakes at Leopardstown in Ireland over 1m2f.
"We thought after her Naas run that the extra couple of furlongs would suit her
and that proved to be the case. She´s in the December Sales and we´ll have to
decide whether she goes there or stays in training next year," said winning
trainer Joe Murphy.Flying Fairies is the 59th stakes-winner worldwide for Holy Roman Emperor, who is covering a full brook at Aquis Farm in Queensland at a fee of $9,900.
