By David Nagel
He now calls his stables at Pakenham home but champion trainer Peter Moody won his ‘home cup’ on Saturday after Incentivise blitzed his opposition in one of the greatest Caulfield Cup wins of all time.
Moody’s Shamus Award/Miss Argyle five-year-old gelding made a one-act affair of one of Australia’s premier staying tests with a dominant three-and-a-half length win in the $5million (2400m) Group-1 classic.
Moody took over the training of Incentivise from Toowoomba-based trainer Steve Tregea in July this year and has made a Group-1 clean sweep of his first three starts in Melbourne.
Incentivise earned favouritism for the Caulfield Cup with impressive victories in the Makybe Diva Stakes and Turnbull Stakes, but took his reputation and career to a whole new level on Saturday.
Moody, who now trains in a much more relaxed atmosphere at Pakenham, said it was great to win the Caulfield Cup after many years of calling the place home.
“It’s unbelievable, Caulfield was my home for 16 or 17 years and I trained a couple of thousand winners here but never this one, so it’s very important to win it,” Moody said post-race.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity, thanks to Brae Sokolski and Ozzie Kheir, that laid the seed and purchased the horse and recommended that he come to my yard.
“And a big thanks to Steve Tregea and his team and his family, he’s the owner, former trainer and breeder of this horse.”
Moody and incentivise have strong Queensland connections, with the trainer hailing from Wyandra in country Queensland while the horse was born and bred by Tregea in Toowoomba.
“A big shout out to everyone in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, this one’s for you,” Moody said proudly.
Moody said he and jockey Brett Prebble had never panicked after drawing the widest gate for Saturday’s big race, and everything worked out according to plan.
“We weren’t going to rush it, Brett took his time, he found a lovely spot and knew where he wanted to be down the side, he said he wanted to be six or seven off and build into the race,” Moody said.
“He said he didn’t care how the first 1200 goes, he just wanted to be allowed to build into it from the half-way mark onwards.
“He gives you a bit of a heart-flutter this horse, he hits that bit of a flat spot coming down the side, but he just kept building and it was a super effort.”
Moody said he and his team now had some massive decisions to make over the coming days, with this Saturday’s Cox Plate, and the Melbourne Cup – on the first Tuesday in November – still possible targets this spring.
“I would think Melbourne Cup after that,” Moody said.
“But we’ll have a chat in the next few days … he’s in it, he’s (Cox Plate) nominated.”
Incentivise would become just the second horse in history, behind the legendary kiwi Rising Fast in 1954, to win all three races in the one season if he could complete the treble on Tuesday, 2 November.
Moody wasted no time notching another victory on Saturday with Oxley Road defeating a strong field in the final event on the card, the Group 2 McCafé Caulfield Sprint (1000m).
