It’s been twenty-two years since Brew scaled the heights in the Melbourne Cup, but Mike Moroney has a worthy contender this year with the Kingman gelding Emissary (GB), who came from second last to land the $500,000 Group III Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday.
Ridden by Blake Shinn, Emissary (GB) came from the widest of all on the home turn to defeat the Juddmonte colourbearer Surefire (Fastnet Rock) by a length, with Makram (IRE) (Make Believe) a further two and three-quarter lengths back in third.
Placed behind Cascadian (GB) in the Group II Peter Young Stakes at Caulfield in February, Emissary (GB) broke thorough at his seventh start in his adopted homeland in the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield in August.
The 5yo Juddmonte-bred son of Kingman won two of his five starts in Britain for Hugo Palmer. He contested the 2020 Epsom Derby, a race won by his half-brother Workforce a decade earlier before adding the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Cons
With his second stakes success, Emissary (GB) advances his record to four wins, two seconds, and three thirds from 15 starts with earnings of $545,583.
“It was a really good win. We were disappointed with his last run, but we put that down to the ground,” Moroney said.
“We were starting to wonder if he really stayed, but today he showed he certainly does.
“He’s a lovely horse, and from last spring on we’ve found ourselves a really good stayer and hopefully, he gets to the ultimate.
“We wanted him on dry ground today, out to the mile-and-a-half and we wondered whether that would do.
“We’ll head on to the Melbourne Cup now, all going well.
“He’s come from second-last in a really good field. It’s probably one of the better Geelong Cup fields we’ve seen for a long, long time, and I think for that reason the handicapper will recognise that and that’s what they normally go on.
“He does remind me a bit of Brew, but that’s 22 years ago now. Time flies when you’re having fun.
“It would certainly be great to win a race like that again. It’s one of our great races, so it would be nice to win it again.”
“Blake is very much in form. He’s a natural jockey. I’ve known Blake a long, long time. I was here when he was an apprentice. He’s well travelled and a world class rider.”
Emissary (GB) won over Blake Shinn.
“Really, really special. The Geelong Cup is a time-honoured race and to come here and win my first is fantastic," Shinn said.
“It was a big win. He showed glimpses of promise, and it’s nice to get him to produce a PB today.
“He settled really nicely, and that was the main objective to get him to run the 2400 metres. As we’ve seen in his first-up run he had a great turn-of-foot over 1700.
“If we could reproduce that same turn-of-foot over this distance, we were in business."
Emissary (GB) descends from one of Juddmonte’s great families. His unraced dam Soviet Moon (Sadler’s Wells) is a sister to Group 1 St Leger and Group 1 Doncaster Racing Post Trophy winner Brian Boru and stakes-winner Kitty O’Shea and a three-quarter sister to multiple Group II winner Sea Moon and half to Group II winner Moon Search.
It's the family of Caulfield Cup hero Best Solution. and Cox Plate contender El Bodegon.
