Admiral has continued his complete domination of Tasmanian sprint ranks with another Listed victory in the Thomas Lyons Stakes (1400m) at Elwick.
The Mossman gelding’s roll-call of stakes wins now stands at 7 and the only Mossman with more black-type is champion galloper Buffering (12).
Admiral (4g Mossman – Reunification by West Quest) was all the rage for the feature sprint on Hobart Cup day. When UBET opened its pre-post market, he was $1.50 but within 15 minutes an avalanche of bets sent the price tumbling into $1.10.
Punters who took the short quote would have been concerned when he looked all out holding the challenge of Powercharged (Magnus) but he lifted in the closing stages to score by a long-neck.
“He sat three-deep up the hill and that’s suicide when the rail is out here,” trainer Barry Campbell said. “It wasn’t pretty but he got there.”
Admiral was beaten by Streetwise Savoire in the 2015 Thomas Lyons before going on to win the LR George Adams Plate (1600m) at Launceston and he will follow the same path this year. A trip to the mainland has also been mentioned in dispatches from connections.
Since winning a juvenile maiden on debut at Elwick in October 2013, Admiral has won 13 of his 18 starts and earned $587,300 for owners Denise Martin, Bruno Calabro and Ron & Trudy Schwanke.
Campbell will wait until after the George Adams on February 24 before making a decision on his immediate future. “I will give him a break and then we will sort it out. The Goodwood or the Stradbroke would be ideal races for him.”
Mossman stands at Vinery Stud and he had four yearlings knocked down at the Inglis Classic Sale over the weekend topped by a $90,000 colt from LR Gai Waterhouse Classic winner Lesmarte to be trained by Matt Dale.
