THE ICONIC BIRDSVILLE CUP - WHEN FINISHING SECOND IS STILL A FEATHER IN YOUR CAP

By Graham Potter | Saturday, September 2, 2023

Ok … it wasn’t a case of ‘they came, they saw, the conquered’ … but it was just about as good an example you can get of someone giving the Birdsville Cup a real go to the point that, when you look back it, this is a second place of which connections can be proud.

Torbreck is the horse in question here … the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership the trainers involved along with a large ownership group who race Torbreck under the KO Racing colours.

The trip …. as documented in a pervious article on HRO … is one steeped in optimism. Why else would you undertake a sixteen-hour journey with three horses, as the Geran team did, particularly when the answers to questions such as how the horses might be affected by the trip or how they would handle the prevailing track conditions on the day at Birdsville would only be known after the fact.

Of course, it is a great place to be with one of the biggest outback parties in the country, but you can do that without having horses in tow, so when you load them up your mindset has to include at lest a touch of optimism.

The first two horse taking part in the Geran’s Birdsville raid, Sammy and Power Sister, raced on Friday, September 1, day one of the carnival, and both finished unplaced.

Day two (Saturday, September 2) was Cup-day and it was Torbreck’s turn in the main feature race.
The day had a confidence boosting start for jockey Gary Geran, who got the first race winner home for trainer Peter Wickham at a starting price of $13 … and Geran was aiming at a long-priced double when he took Torbreck to the start for the Birdsville Cup, an Open Handicap over 1600m … Torbreck being a $12 chance.

Torbreck, from barrier eight, and the grey Neodium ($5), from barrier twelve, both left the gates with real intent with Neodium, who found the lead, serving it up to Torbreck in the early part before Geran took hold and settled Torbreck in second place.

Nobody knew it at the time, but that effectively was the race.

Neodium maintained a strong gallop in the first half of the race and, even though the $61 rank outsider Legend Of Zorro dashed forward and headed Neodium mid-race, pushing Torbreck back to third at that stage, Legend Of Zorro’s moment in the sun was short-lived and Neodium was back in the lead approaching the home turn, with Torbreck also going past Legend Of Zorro to reclaim second place.

The downside for the Geran trained runner was that Torbreck did have to track three wide to get past the tiring Legend Of Zorro, a fact that cost him vital extra ground at a vital stage of the running and he was still three wide on cornering while Neodium was hugging the inside running, taking the shortest way home.

Inside the final 400m and the chase was well and truly on and, as game as Torbreck was, there was just no give in Neodium in the run to the line and, in the end, the Phillip Stokes trained runner extended his advantage to secure his Birdville Cup triumph by a clearcut 2.50 length with Tirbreck having to settle for second place.