Geelong victory propels import Point Of Law into Melbourne Cup reckoning
Formerly raced by King Charles III, Point Of Law has rocketed to Melbourne Cup favouritism after winning the Geelong Cup at his first Australian start for Ciaron Maher.
Point Of Law has traded northern hemisphere promise for a shot at Melbourne Cup glory, turning his Australian debut into a springboard to favouritism for Australia’s greatest race.
Relishing a genuinely run Geelong Cup, Point Of Law singled out with the leader The Euphrates before taking control in the straight and holding out Irish stayer Small Fry in the $500,000 race.
In the process, the four-year-old, formerly a part of King Charles III’s racing team, secured a ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup and gave Ciaron Maher an overdue Geelong Cup victory.
Sent out as a $6 third favourite, Point Of Law held off the Joseph O’Brien-trained stablemates Small Fry ($5.50) and Omni Man ($15) in scoring by a half-length.
He is now an $8.50 Melbourne Cup favourite with Sportsbet in a bid to complete a double reserved for three horses – Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011).
Point Of Law has been handicapped 51kg at Flemington but is eligible for a weight penalty.
Ironically, Maher trained Gilded Water for His Majesty, who ran second in last year’s Geelong Cup, and that royal connection was pivotal in the champion trainer securing the son of Frankel for a group of well-heeled stable clients.
“We were fortunate enough we were able to get a Circle Of Fire off His Majesty, and we were second with his horse here last year, Gilded Water,” Maher said.
Point Of Law will now go into the Melbourne Cup as one of the most inexperienced favourites in the race’s rich history.
But he arrived in Australia with a growing reputation built on just four previous starts in Britain.
One of them, a Group 3 victory in the Bahrain Trophy over 2600m at Newmarket in July, demonstrated the magnitude of his staying potential.
Maher admitted Point Of Law’s temperament required careful handling and the Geelong Cup provided the first meaningful test of his spring preparation after he was left as an emergency for the Caulfield Cup and missed a start.
“Hopefully he pulls up well. He doesn’t look like he is too stressed there … and he looks like he’ll run two miles,” Maher said.
“This was a good sort of insight into how he was going to be … we thought he had enough ability, but because he’s so lightly raced, you don’t know how (he might adapt in a) new country.”
Winning jockey Ethan Brown said he resisted the temptation to force the issue with Point Of Law despite sending his mount forward from the widest draw.
Instead, he let Point Of Law find his rhythm outside the leader, confident the strong gallop would suit a horse with stamina to spare.
“I just had to be more of a horseman on him and just work with him rather than worrying about trying to bang him into a spot or do something quickly,” Brown said.
Brown believes the best is still to come.
“He’s only going to improve again, and he’s a very exciting horse,” he said.
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