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He may be getting on in years but Cash Dot Com showed he still has the capacity to surprise as the six-year-old overturned the odds to score a shock win on Sunday.
Winless since August 2012, the Australian-bred gelding put an end to his long barren spell that stretched 20 months to beat Gato Negro (Tan Wei Li) by a length-and-a-half while favourite and class dropper Hypernova (Zuriman Zulkifli) was third, a further length-and-a-quarter behind.
In his 14 starts since he last tastes success, Cash Dot Com has rarely threatened to reverse his fortunes, his best results during that period were two thirds and two minor placings.
Relatively lightly-raced in a career that has seen him dogged by several injury issues; he had bled in a Class 3 race (1200m) on August 2, 2013, this was also just Cash Dot Com’s fourth start since February after returning from a six-month spell.
Nevertheless, trainer Desmond Koh never lost hope and retained faith in Cash Dot Com (formerly known as Zaba’s Dance), who once upon a time had shown himself to be a useful galloper, winning three times in consecutive years from 2011 to 2012.
“It was a good break for him and I thought he looked sharper and much fitter,” said the Singaporean handler, whose own form has picked up after some early season woes when he only picked up two wins in the opening two months.
He has since saddled seven more winners since the start of March and is up to nine in this season’s log.
“The last few runs have helped as a warm-up and he did okay in his last start,” said Koh. “He’s a bit long in the teeth but it was a good performance from him today, to win against this sort of field.”
Indeed much of the focus had been centred on the promising trio of Hypernova, Gato Negro and Crazy Times (Danny Beasley), who were well-supported at $15, $18 and $19 respectively.
While Crazy Times was a disappointment and finished last, the other two were perhaps surprised by the acceleration that Cash Dot Com ($86) managed to conjure down the straight as Flores steered his mount to a convincing victory. The winning time was 1min 5.88secs on the Polytrack.
“This was my fourth start with him and I’m very happy with this horse,” said the Mexican-born hoop, who made his name in his adopted home of the United States where he has won three Breeders’ Cup races and three Hollywood Gold Cups.
“I’ve been very unlucky with him so far, always drawing a wide barrier (gates 12, 10 and 10 in their three outings together). So it was nice to jump from the inside (gate four).
“There wasn’t much speed in the race and I just kept him handy behind horse number 2 (Yin Jie with Corey Brown astride) who looked the main threat. It was the perfect spot for us.”
It was the first winner Flores has rode for Koh and he was delighted to get off the mark for the US-trained conditioner, who started out as a stable employee under Californian trainer Ian Jory and was upgraded to an assistant trainer's position in 1997.
“I’ve known Desmond since his time in the US,” said Flores. “We’ve been friends for a long time and I’m very happy and humbled to finally get a win for my good friend.”
Cash Dot Com, sired by Hussonet out of Alcazaba, is owned by the Arowana Stable and has now earned about $360,000 in prizemoney.