Tom Marquand relishes first Group One victory on Addeybb in Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill, Australia
Tom Marquand rode his first Group One winner as the William Haggas-trained Addeybb lifted Saturday's Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill.
Marquand dictated the pace aboard Addeybb, who was last seen finishing second to Magical in the Champion Stakes last October and is a seven times winner in Britain, including at Group Two and Three level.
The duo set a steady pace with Verry Elleegant on his heels, before Marquand made his move with around two furlongs to go in the mile-and-a-quarter contest.
Verry Elleegant initially looked set to match his effort and edged in front, but Addeybb kept finding for pressure and battled back to prevail by half a length, with Avilius a further five and a quarter lengths back in third.
🔥 Haggas and Marquand Down Under!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) March 21, 2020
🏆 Young Rascal - G3
🏆 Addeybb - G1
🏇🥇 Ranvet Stakes glory goes to Addeybb as @TomMarquand produced a fine, front-running ride 👇pic.twitter.com/kZGYR00BZp
The six-year-old's victory topped a fantastic start to the year for Marquand, who has ridden 20 winners in New South Wales during his Australian spells.
He told Racing.com: "A Group One is all I have dreamt of since childhood, an international Group One even more so, and an international Group One on an English horse is even better.
"Addeybb was extremely tough. It's on ground that he doesn't really want nor appreciate."
Marquand and Haggas were completing a double after Young Rascal had earlier struck gold in the Group Three Iron Jack N.E. Manion Cup.
The five-year-old was saddled with top weight in the 12-furlong contest and Marquand settled him in fourth, with ex-David Simcock runner Mugatoo stalking him through the race.
Marquand went to win his face with a furlong and a half to run and Mugatoo went with him, but Young Rascal was just half a length too good at the line.
"He's a typical English-style horse," Marquand said. "He was never hitting top gear until the last 100 metres really. It was a great performance considering we went pretty slow - he's a staying type. Once he gets to the business end of the race, from the bottom of the straight I was always pretty confident I was holding Mugatoo.
"The only thing he could do us for is speed. Once he joined, he didn't go by, so I was confident I would stay with him and keep moving forward to the line."
Young Rascal, who finished seventh in the 2018 Derby at Epsom, was last seen coming home ninth in December's Hong Kong Vase after meeting trouble in running.
Haggas could not believe how well his long-held plans for both horses paid off.
He said: "You always hope, but the reality is it rarely happens as you'd like it to. It was a good day. It's been a long-term plan, but it is rare things happen that favourably - this one did.
"I did expect it to be wetter ground, so we got away with it on that front. They had an inch of rain on Monday, but it was just good ground in the end. Tom said by the time of the Golden Slipper it was on the fast side of good."
Haggas has further Australian targets in mind for the pair - should racing still be going ahead behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"These were supposedly prep races for two races on April 11. There's the Sydney Cup over two miles for Young Rascal, which I think he wants, and there's the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over 10 furlongs (for Addeybb)," said Haggas.
"The ground isn't a worry for that, the biggest worry out there is still being able to race, that's the most pertinent problem. It was behind closed doors today, there were 400 people there, they had five Group Ones and ran them all and it is a similar scenario in three weeks."
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