The well-tried Ashworth, at $4, drew the short straw and led them around the synthetic track until, as they bunched for the turn, Noel Callow hooked out on Lord Harry, who had bowled along with cover for most of the journey, and simply blew right by every other runner to canter over the line almost four lengths clear, with red-hot even-money favourite Albenca Street the best of a very average-looking rest.
It was an easy start to the day for Callow, winning the second on the card before making it a double in the fifth, winning the $22,000 Dalton Consulting Eng BM64 over 1200 m with the Corstenses’ Free Thrills.
But this time he had to earn the win; the favourite Obi was just a half-head away.
After the race Seymour trainer Stephen Brown said his horse had been up with the speed over the mile at Sale on July 9 before fading to finish sixth.
Brown said he now believed the horse may have had a virus or something similar because at the finish he had pulled up very quickly.
Based on that run, and a fourth place on the synthetic at Pakenham at the end of July, Brown said he had no qualms sending Lord Harry out for the 2200 m.
“I think the further he goes the better he is going to get,” Brown said.
“In saying that, he is a little bit of a weak horse so you can’t back him up to soon, you have to space his runs a little but he was ready for today, that’s for sure.”
It was an impressive way for the lightly raced six-year-old gelding to break his maiden at his 11th start, even though he had drifted from $5 to $7.50 by the time he jumped.
“His owners are real horse lovers and they like to give theirs a long time off when they spell, and they thought he might have 12 months off, so we do what we can,” Brown added.
“I think he will be just as good when he comes back to the grass and now we’ve got him up to that distance — and he’s been a real green one — and now he has matured and has that win, I think he will be fine.”
