Le Roi wins 2012 Group 3 Summer Cup
Top South Australian trainer Tony McEvoy declared “mission accomplished” after his imported galloper Le Roi took out the $125,000 Group III Summer Cup (2400m) at Rosehill on Boxing Day.
The win was Le Roi’s fourth on the trot and helped the four-year-old entire to pass the distance and prizemoney clauses for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups next year.
“He’s passed a couple of clauses for the big handicaps so that moves him up the list a bit,” McEvoy said.
Le Roi settled behind the leader Iggy Pop in the run and travelled sweetly throughout the first three-quarters of the race.
Nearing the home turn, jockey Glyn Schofield has a lap full of horse underneath him and at the top of the straight when Iggy Pop left the rail, Schofield drove Le Roi into the gap.
Le Roi took the run and quickly stormed to the front before “floating along” and he started to drift off the track when “he heard Brightest coming”. He rallied strongly over the later stages to move away and score a dominant win.
“I had that much horse underneath me I probably could have gone back onto the sand and won,” Schofield said.
“He’s still quite new. I feel he probably would have won a bit easier if I was probably two or three lengths further back and I was running at horses rather than getting there soon and having a look around.
“He gave me the impression he’s certainly got a bright future.”