Mr Utopia finally has his day
Connections of Mr Utopia gained retribution for losing the Grandstand Cup on protest when the classy four-year-old won today’s $100,000 Amelia Park York Stakes at Ascot.
Backed from $2.80 to $2.50 favouritism, Mr Utopia settled perfectly for fill-in rider Troy Turner in sixth position.
Turner pulled Mr Utopia to the outside in the straight and the Steve Wolfe-trained galloper gunned down Full Steam Ahead ($4.40) to score by three-quarters of a length.
The Other Harv ($41) ran third in the 1600m feature.
Mr Utopia crossed the finishing post first in the Grandstand Cup (1500m) a fortnight ago, but lost the race on protest to Amorino.
An incident at the 200m of the Grandstand Cup also cost jockey Shaun McGruddy a careless riding suspension, forcing Wolfe to call on Turner for the York Stakes ride.
Mr Utopia boosted his record to eight wins from 16 starts with his first feature victory.
“It was hard to come back after losing that race on protest,” Wolfe said.
“But the horse did a good job and Troy rode him well.
“He deserved that win and he’s a very serious horse.
“He’ll go three weeks between runs to the Albany Cup.
“From there we’ll just see where we go.
“He might come back for the spring or we’ll look at something over east – it’s very hard to place some horses over here.”
Earlier, apprentice Chanelle O’Grady racked up a winning double on August Knight (race one) and Our Memory Girl (race three).
Already Famous successfully backed up from his Pinjarra win six days ago to win the Amelia Park Beef Handicap (1400m).
And Regal Romp overcame a wide run in transit to notch back-to-back wins, proving too good for Daintree Road in the Ryan’s Quality Meats Handicap (1000m).
