ROMAN AUREUS PREVAILS IN NAIL BITING FINISH

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 23, 2021

The last race at Doomben on Saturday provided a nail-biting finish as the Brian Wakefield trained Roman Aureus ($5), who had been produced with meaning to forge to the head of affairs halfway up the straight, managed to cling on by the narrowest of margins ahead of the late-flying Desert Lord who would have reversed the result in the next half-a-stride.

Jockey Larry Cassidy’s affinity with Roman Aureus … he has ridden the gelding in ten of his last eleven starts … played a role in the outcome with the son of Red Element responding to Cassidy’s every instruction and the effort was good enough to give Roman Aureus his fifth win from fifteen career starts.

Cassidy has been on board for every victory.

“He seems to like it here at Doomben,” explained Wakefield. “There seems to be more genuine speed where he can balance up.

“He got away cleanly today as we would have liked and he got into a nice position, got flowing and just got the breaks at the right time. Those breaks haven’t been going our way lately, but today they went our way.

‘I’ve got a feeling this horse is not particularly at home in the summertime. This is the first prep he has had during the heat. He struggled a little bit early and then he sort of acclimitised.

“The way his preparations have been timed he hasn’t been in full work during that hot period. This is the first period he has been in the stables in full work during the summertime. Some horses like it … some don’t.

“He’ll go to a mile next week and then out for a spell definitely after that and we will probably put him through the rest of his grades when he comes back.”

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