The VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final at Flemington saw an unexpected victor in Detonator Jack, who broke a long winless streak thanks to a favourable set of circumstances.
Previously winless for 952 days, Detonator Jack had struggled in the David Bourke Handicap at his prior start, finishing behind all other runners. However, he demonstrated a marked improvement third-up on Saturday to clinch the Listed mile feature by a short neck.
Sent out at odds of $20 with John Allen in the saddle, Detonator Jack recorded his first victory since capturing The Gong at Kembla Grange in November 2023. National assistant trainer Jack Turnbull explained that the stable had employed a variety of training methods to revive the horse’s old form.
“There were a lot of elements of the race today that worked for Jack in the sense of fitness, he was third up, blinkers were on, we got a nice cut in the ground and we drew low,” Turnbull remarked. “Still a little bit hesitant whether or not he wanted to be there or not, but credit to the whole team, we’ve been playing around them at home, tread, jumping, different track gallops, just trying to rejuvenate him and we got it done.”
“Tread training was a big factor, Track Kat (Katrina Anderson) had a bit to do with him there, and we’ve just schooled him down at Cranbourne. Obviously it’s been a long time between drinks, but we’ve kept saying that at home he’s wanted to be there, and he wants to do it, we just hadn’t seen it race day.”
Turnbull also highlighted the specific booking of jockey John Allen, who had previously guided the horse to three wins early in his career. Allen, however, confessed to being skeptical about the horse’s ability to turn his form around so swiftly.
“He’s always had good ability and he’s obviously won better races than today,” Allen said. “I was very sceptical looking at his run the last day, I thought it was very plain, but Ciaron said he’d changed a few things up during the week and done a bit of schooling with him and stuff, just trying to sharpen him up and it’s certainly done the trick.”
Check out the betting markets for the race at Australian betting sites.
