Tom Dabernig tasted plenty of success at the highest level when part of the “Hayes, Hayes, Dabernig” training trio at Lindsay Park, but a Group 3 success on Cox Plate Day notched a new milestone for his new training operation at Warrnambool.
In winning the Group 3 Tesio Stakes (1600m) by 4-½ lengths at Moonee Valley on Saturday, Flying Mascot provided Dabernig with his first group race win since splitting from Lindsay Park in July.
“That was very special, certainly, in my own right and especially out of Warrnambool,” Dabernig said.
Flying Mascot’s ownership group, Flying Start Syndications chose to follow Dabernig in his new venture with the four-year-old mare who now has the record of four wins and three placing in nine starts.
Run as the last event on Cox Plate Day, the Tesio Stakes was the 18th event run on the circuit within 24 hours. That, together with the intermittent showers over that period, worked to Dabernig’s advantage.
“She had only had one run on a soft track before this,” Dabernig said.
“That was her first ever race start, but I was happy being race 10 of Cox Plate weekend when we drew wide. I thought the fence might give out and we ended up in a good spot.
“We had the Tesio in our mind after the first win at Bendigo. Often you have those ideas, but things don’t fall into place, and it was more the way she won that I’m pleased about.
“She won by a good margin and now that she was able to take a sit and go, she’s shown that she doesn’t just have to lead in her races.
“She’s no one trick pony.”
Dabernig said Flying Mascot had come out of the race well and should that continue during the early part of the week he is giving strong consideration to the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday despite that race not being on the original plan.
“There is a million-dollar bonus on offer if she’s able to win the Empire Rose,” Dabernig said.
“It would be great if the race was in two weeks instead of seven days but it’s at this time of year that you consider these things.
“The horse comes first, naturally, but it does give us even more reason to have a crack, even though the Empire Rose will be a completely different ballgame again.
“We’ve backed a lot of horses up from the Cantala on Derby Day to the Mackinnon the following Saturday, so it can work.
“If she’s fine on Wednesday when they take acceptances then there’s a good chance we’ll be there.”
