Eraset emerges victorious again

Reliable gelding Eraset added another win to a productive season when he won Saturday's $70,000 Geoff Torney Cup at Flemington.

The Danny O'Brien-trained gelding made up for a luckless 0.7-length fourth in last Sunday's Swan Hill Cup when he carried jockey Ben Melham to convincing victory in the 1600-metre event.

The victory made it two Flemington wins from his past three starts for the son of Reset, who also has Flemington second placings to Mawingo, He's Remarkable and Saturday's Ipswich Cup winner Shenzou Steeds to his name this season.

“I said to Ben before the race, as long as you get him off the fence the horse will win,” O'Brien said matter-of-factly after the race.

“He's been beaten here by Mawingo and He's Remarkable. There were none of those in the field today and we just had the little problem of forcing our way out into the better ground.

“He's actually had a really good season, he could easily have won three or four more races but he has run into some really good horses along the way. He's been terribly consistent.

“Even last Sunday, he was a tragedy beaten in the Swan Hill Cup, so he deserved another one today.”

The five-year-old was expertly handled by Melham, who settled three horses back along the fence but edged away from the rail approaching the straight before hooking around heels at the 300m.

The $2.45 favourite then let down impressively to power home to a 1-1/4-length win over Sister Norma ($10) with Lord Pyrus ($8) 2-1/4 lengths away third.

Eraset's win capped a stellar day for Melham, who shared riding honours with Melbourne's leading jockey Luke Nolen, having also partnered Flamberge to victory for Peter Moody in the opening event.

Story by Racing Victoria Limited, to view full story on RVL website click here

Photo by Slickpix, to view Slickpix's website click here