Racing: Kiwis to fore in Caulfield Cup

Expatriate New Zealand jockey Greg Childs is thrilled after his win on Railings in the Caulfield Cup yesterday. Mark Dadswell / Getty Images

He may be Australian-trained but Railings, brilliant winner of the Caulfield Cup yesterday, has a New Zealand heritage, is part-owned by New Zealanders and was ridden by a proud expatriate in Greg Childs.

It was a thrilling victory as Childs piloted the Zabeel gelding down the outside to catch the Japanese visitor, Eye Popper.

Fifty metres beforehand it seemed he was running for third place as Eye Popper and Mummify duelled for the main prize, but the final burst by Railings was undeniable.

Asked when he knew he had won the race, Childs replied: "About six strides off. I knew I was finishing hard but I had to come from behind to catch them and it has been a leader's track all day. I wasn't confident until I reached them."

Railings, an $A8.20 chance in Australia, won $1.5 million for winning the cup and a $250,000 bonus offered by the Australian Jockey Club for winning the Metropolitan Handicap-Caulfield Cup double. He was the first horse in 20 years to achieve it.

He looms as a major chance too for the Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double, with Childs throwing out a big tip.

"He just over-raced a tad, he was just a little bit fresh; it will do him a world of good."

He is keen to retain the ride in the Melbourne Cup, but said that would be up to trainer John Hawkes, who was recording his first win in the Caulfield Cup.

Absent from the celebrations after Railings' win was part-owner Gerrard Peterson, who was having his own party back in New Zealand, hailing his 50th birthday.

Peterson, who was an owner of 2000 Melbourne Cup winner Brew, bought Railings at the yearling sales in New Zealand for $NZ300,000 after Cambridge trainer Roger James picked out the colt for him.

The dam is La Suffragette, a daughter of the great Australian mare Emancipation.

The young horse went to Hawkes when James closed down his Melbourne stable to concentrate on his New Zealand business.

At the other end of celebrations was the New Zealand-owned but Australian-trained mare Vouvray. Jockey Scott Seamer took her up from a wide draw to race on the pace, but she was three and four wide for much of the journey, and faded out of contention.

Whether she goes on to contest the Melbourne Cup is up in the air.

- NZPA