Derby hero Serpentine and full-brothers fail to shine in Flemington spectacle

Derby winner Serpentine again failed to shine on his second start since joining the Robert Hickmott stable when he trailed in last of 15 runners in the Sally Chirnside at Flemington on Saturday.

The race provided an extremely unusual spectacle in containing three full-brothers, with the Matt Cumani-trained seven-year-old Team Captain faring best of the trio in tenth place, one ahead of the Hickmott-trained King Of The Castle.

Victory went to the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained mare High Emocean.

Galileo's son Serpentine, one of the brothers out of Oaks runner-up Remember When, who has subsequently become a prolific producer, won a maiden at the Curragh when owned by the Coolmore partners and trained by Aidan O'Brien, and then sprang a 25-1 surprise at Epsom under an enterprising front-running ride from Emmet McNamara.

However, while Serpentine has often not been disgraced since, those who thought his Derby victory a fluke have been given plenty of ammunition, and he also suffered the indignity of being gelded. The operation does not appear to have done the trick.

While the contest drew plenty of attention for containing the trio of brothers, winner High Emocean could be the one to give it further notoriety as she returned to peak form, powering clear to win by two lengths under Harry Coffey.

“It was a really handy field today,” Coffey tod reporters. “Because of that, we had a bit more speed and a little bit more competitiveness early in the race, compared with what we’ve been seeing in the winter months with the staying races. We’ve usually just sort of walked, trotted and cantered home.

“Today, there was a different dynamic and it really suited our mare. They were going along, and she got a beautiful cart into the race and she was too powerful late.

“When you’re riding Ciaron and Dave’s horses at 2,000m-plus, you can be really confident to ride them like they’re the best stayers because they do such a great job conditioning them.”

From 20 starts, High Emocean now has six wins and eight placings.

Maher said: “Harry Coffey does a lot of work for the stable, and he gave her an absolute peach of a ride. It’s great for him and great for the owners. They can dare to dream [of the Melbourne Cup] now if they can get a golden ticket in the Bart Cummings.”

High Emocean was bred by the Llanhennock Trust, who consigned her through their Wentwood Grange banner at Karaka 2018. She was bought for $80,000 by John Foote Bloodstock and Darren Weir Racing.

She is out of the unraced High Chaparral mare High Joy, whose five winners also include Listed scorer Elate and multiple winners Darci Joy, Hoard The Bourbon and Diamondsandbubbles.

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