Les Vampires has officially booked his place in the Big Dance at Randwick on Melbourne Cup day with a commanding win in the Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) on Saturday, delivering a milestone performance for his connections.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott confirmed the Listed race would likely mark the end of Les Vampires’ current campaign, with an eye now firmly on spring riches.
“I’m not sure how far we want to go now. We’ve got the ticket to the Big Dance and he is pretty deep into the campaign so we’ll be working back from having that feature somewhere in his program next time in,” Bott said.
“We’ve seen he can be effective early in the campaign, sharp over that trip and I think he’d be well placed in a race like that. Importantly, he’s qualified and there is some big money on offer so it’s got to be under consideration.”
Les Vampires, who showed promise earlier in his career by placing in the 2024 Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m), missed the spring due to throat surgery. Since returning, he has strung together a series of consistent runs culminating in Saturday’s breakthrough black-type success.
His Gosford triumph also carried added historical significance, coming 33 years after co-trainer Gai Waterhouse claimed her first black-type win in the same race with Moods.
Bott labelled the four-year-old gelding a “progressive type” and highlighted the extra merit of the win given the mid-race pressure applied by Touristic, ridden by Rachel King.
“It has never been big margins but today he was really able to put them away well over this trip so it has opened up a few more options for him going forward,” Bott said.
Sent out as the $2.90 betting favourite, Les Vampires responded strongly when asked by jockey Winona Costin, powering to a 1-1/4 length victory over Etna Rosso ($13), with longshot Mr Waterville ($51) finishing third.
Costin praised the gelding’s professionalism and strong finishing effort under pressure.
“I was only just starting to slowly amp it up and doing things under my own terms when one (Touristic) whipped around us and it put me in a tricky spot,” Costin said.
“But credit to the horse, he had nice acceleration and I was able to kick up and hold it out and keep momentum going all the way to the line.”
With Les Vampires now locked into the $3 million Big Dance, punters can begin plotting their futures strategies early. For the best odds and race promotions across Australia’s leading bookmakers, visit our comprehensive betting sites list.
