Sovereign Red wins $250,000 Aust. Derby

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 19

Sovereign Red wins $250,000 Aust. Derby

NZPA Perth A decision by Victoria’s leading trainer, Geoff Murphy, to take a six-week break from his 45 horse team at Caulfield led to the New Zealand-bred, Sovereign Red, winning the $250,000 Australia Derby (2400 m at Ascot. \i Murphy was convinced that Sovereign Red would win the Australian Derby after his fighting success in the Victoria Derby at Flemington on November 1. But he did not want to take Sovereign Red away unless he could be with him to personally supervise his preparation.

After a family conference Murphy decided to leave his son, Barry, in charge of his stable and head to Perth with the jockey, Mick Goreham.

The move was an unqualified success. The Derby win lifted Sovereign Red’s stake winnings in Perth to $207,000 in four starts, and his career earnings ;to $378,450. He was unlucky not to have earned a further $250,000 through a Western Australia Turf club bonus.

Sovereign Red would have taken the bonus if he had won the Western Australian Derby on November 15 instead of running second to Seitrice. He was injured during the running of that race and was below his best.

Murphy said that Sovereign Red, which he bought for $5600 as a yearling in New Zealand, was now worth more than $1,000,000.

He revealed that Sovereign Red had been under treatment from a Fremantle chiropractor, Ted Martinovich, in the week leading up to the Derby. Sovereign Red had suffered a pinched nerve in the back, and was manipulated by Martinovich last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

The treatment was a complete success and Sovereign Red, backed from 6-to-4 to start at 5-to-4, stretched out in his best style to easily beat Artist Man 12-to-l and Quadtilla 4-to-l. Murphy said that Sovereign Red would now be spelled for about five weeks before beginning a preparation for the A. J. C. Derby at Randwick. He would continue with plans to run the big chestnut colt in the Arlington Million at Chicago next August. .

“Sovereign Red has proved he is the best three-year-old in Australia and he deserves a chance to match it with the best overseas,” said Murphy. “This has not been done before, but there has to be a first time for everything. “He will improve out of sight when next in training. He has only had a handful of runs and is still learning how to race.”

Murphy and Goreham decided in a pre-race conference that Sovereign Red should .be ridden, behind the pace in th? Australian Derby, and the race was run perfectly to suit him, with Holflex and No Equal setting a good pace in front. Murphy rates Sovereign Red as the second-best horse he has trained during his long and distinguished career. He said he was not as good as his former champion, Surround, which won 17 races and earned $347,030 in stakes.

Keith Watson, rider of Artist Man, protested for al-> leged interference from the 500 m to the home turn, buti the protest was dismiss.J by the stewards in a hearing that lasted five minutes.

Goreham, a leading jockey in Adelaide for many years before switching to Murphy’s stable, was lucky to be riding Sovereign Red. He was suspended after an earlier race till December 29 but was successful in an appeal to the committee.