GOLD COAST, JAN 10: LE CHEF TURNS UP THE HEAT TO SEE OFF ALL CHALLENGERS IN THE MM 2YO CLASSIC

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 11, 2015

Trainer Darryl Hansen’s whoops of delight told the story after his runner Le Chef had powerfully resisted all challengers in a demanding final chase to the line to claim all the glory in the Magic Millions 2yo Classic.

The optimistic journey, literally the stuff dreams are made of, firstly to big race qualification and then on to defy all the odds, all of the opposition and all of vagaries that can emerge to take a horse out of contention, has been successfully completed in 70.77 seconds that the connections of Le Chef will never forget.

“I was very excited. I’d never felt anything like that before. It was great,” was all Hansen could come up with to try to explain his level of exhilaration. That was more than Le Chef’s owner Lenore Saunders could offer. She was speechless.

Le Chef was put into the race immediately from an inside barrier, which is only a good draw in the hectic early scramble if the horse has the talent to turn it into an advantage. Le Chef passed that first test with ease.

Talent in the saddle helps as well. Apprentice Luke Tarrant continues to show riding maturity beyond his years and he coolly guided Le Chef into the perfect position, ready to strike, as the field turned for home.
Race on ... and Tarrant was never going to die wondering.

A bold early move suggested that Tarrant was confident Le Chef would be able to sustain his strong run down the full length of the home straight.

At the 200m Le Chef went past the tiring early leader Carriages (Gai Waterhouse / Tommy Berry), who chased too hard early from the extreme outside draw ... but fellow Queenslander Pepperano (Liam Birchley / Damian Browne) and Madotti (Matthew Dunn / Tim Bell), who both also jumped from wide barrier positions, weren’t showing any signs of surrender.

They chased hard to Le Chef’s outside and they chased with meaning.

Single Gaze (Nick Olive / Damien Oliver) was also fighting on along the inside and Perignon (Gerald Ryan / Brenton Avdulla) was making up ground late.
All challengers, in their own way, contributed to creating a pressure cooker situation for Le Chef, who now was just metres away from clinching a famous victory.

In those final strides Tarrant’s judgement proved to be spot on. There was no give in Le Chef’s commitment. He had indeed sustained a strong run down the full length of the straight and no other runner had been able to match him.

Victory was his!

In eighteen days Le Chef had gone from a maiden winner at Ipswich to the 2015 Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner, a great achievement for the team led by Darryl Hansen.

It wasn’t just guts and glory. There was a bit of cash involved. On top of the $1,140.000 first prize, Le Chef’s connections also took home the $325 000 for the Racing Woman’s Bonus, which was offered on the race.

That is not a bad afternoon’s earn in anybody’s language.

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