THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: AVDULLA'S OAKS CELEBRATION. A MOMENT TO BE TREASURED

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 6, 2016

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

It was a moment to be treasured ... so much so that even those who didn’t back Lasqueti Spirit, the long priced winner of the victoria Oaks at Flemington on Thursday must have marvelled at the audacious manner in which an optimistic plan was carried out to perfection by a supposed ‘no hoper’ prompting a celebration in the saddle from jockey Brenton Avdulla that will go down in racing folklore.

The Lee Curtis trained runner went into Oaks, her tenth career start, without a win behind her name and was roundly neglected in the betting.

Her official starting price was $101 but she paid significantly more than that on the various totes after leading her rivals a merry dance from soon after the start.

It was good to see a $100 chance take the fight to her opposition.

How else would she have had a chance to beat them?

She couldn’t hope to out-muscle the best of her rivals in the finish and, as certainly, she couldn’t afford to give them a start, so off Avdulla went. He took Lasqueti Spirit to the front and did not put on the breaks.

None of those strung out behind Lasqueti paid enough attention to the tearaway front-runner. She was a $100 plus Maiden. She would come back to the field.

No she wouldn’t!

Over the final 200m in became evident that Avdulla’s daring and Curtis’s spot on preparation of his runner was about to carry the day in the biggest upset of the carnival.

As that reality hit home, you could sense the despair of the riders of the chasing runners but that, and everything else, was eclipsed by the defining moment of the race as a jubilant Avdulla could not contain his excitement any more.

Approaching the winning post Avdulla stood straight up the saddle, turned to his right to face the grandstand with beaming delight on his face, before bowing in formal fashion to his audience.

Stewards, just doing their job, fined Avdulla for his extravagance but it will forever remain as a magnificent moment in a week of outstanding carnival racing which provided real pleasure to all who witnessed it.

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