By MIKE DILLON
Yippyio is not one of Australian racing's greatest talents these days but he proved he has one of its greatest hearts by winning the $A600,000 Brisbane Cup yesterday.
Yippyio should be dead.
His trainer, Allan Denham, was sure Yippyio was going to die when he fell ill during a float trip to the Melbourne Cup from his Sydney stable three years ago.
"I was sure we wouldn't be taking him home from Melbourne," said an emotional Denham in the Eagle Farm birdcage.
"He was a very sick horse."
It is not unusual for horses to die of travel sickness. What it did to Yippyio was take away his sprint.
Yippy the dasher became Yippy the slug, but in the tough rain-affected conditions yesterday, that's exactly what won the race for him.
"The other thing is, he improves lengths when he comes up here to Queensland and that's not surprising," said Denham, who dedicated the win to his father, veteran trainer Jack Denham.
"This horse has been in work for 12 months. I wanted to spell him four months ago, but dad said: 'If you turn a veteran horse like that out, you'll never get him back. Keep him going.' This win is really dad's."
Weight was the key to the Cup.
Last year Yippyio carried 61kg when he finished second in the Queensland Cup and dropped to a luxury 51.5kg yesterday.
Remarkably, for a champion jockey, Larry Cassidy had not ridden a group one winner this season until last Saturday yet goes home to Sydney with the Queensland Derby-Brisbane Cup double within 48 hours.
"Gee, he's not an easy horse to ride," said a breathless Cassidy.
"I had no idea Sharscay was coming at me for a while in the home straight. I just got him rolling and I pinned my ears back the same as he did. I wasn't looking back for anything."
Luck was right against Matamata topweight Cronus. He refused to settle in the early stages and Chris Munce decided the best of a poor list of options was to allow him to stride along in front.
Cronus overraced which gave him no chance of seeing out the 3200m and faded once he was grabbed on the home bend.
Shane Dye said Kiwi mare Diaga failed to see out the 3200m.
The best of the New Zealand interests was Brew's fourth placing. He loomed up on the bend and looked likely, but was outsprinted in the closing stages.
Racing: Yippyio back from near-death with a vengeance
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