Hadabeclorka, the oldest horse in the race and who was a Perth Cup runner only 11 months ago, has staged a major upset to land the Group Two Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot.Nine-year-old Hadabeclorka was beaten for early speed and third last turning for home but his jockey William Pike found all the shortcuts to drive the $41 chance home along the rails to score his biggest win by 1-1/4 lengths in the 1200m feature.Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Gerald Mosse gave King Kool Kat ($11) a perfect ride bu
Hadabeclorka, the oldest horse in the race and who was a Perth Cup runner only 11 months ago, has staged a major upset to land the Group Two Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot.
Nine-year-old Hadabeclorka was beaten for early speed and third last turning for home but his jockey William Pike found all the shortcuts to drive the $41 chance home along the rails to score his biggest win by 1-1/4 lengths in the 1200m feature.
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Gerald Mosse gave King Kool Kat ($11) a perfect ride but he could only finish second, three-quarters of a length ahead of favourite Whitefriars ($3.40), ridden by Damien Oliver.
Hadabeclorka's win was a fitting reward for Bunbury trainer Brent Larsson who never lost faith in the horse who was widely recognised as "non-genuine".
"I am speechless," Larsson said.
"It is just good to have a horse in a race of this quality and to win it is unbelievable.
"He has been a non-genuine horse and we have had trouble to get his mind on the job but we always knew he was quite capable.
"We have tried a lot of things with him to get him to switch on and tried to get him over ground but that option didn't work."
Relatively lightly raced with only 39 starts, Hadabeclorka posted his ninth win in the Winterbottom.
He has been a regular big-race performer in Perth but success was always elusive.
He ran fifth in the 2008 Winterbottom which Takeover Target won narrowly from Apache Cat, and last season was tried as stayer and finished second last in the 2010 Perth Cup ((2400m).
"He has always been around the mark in these sorts of races and I brought him back with this race in mind," Larsson said.
Last start Hadabeclorka was second-up when sixth in the Group Three Colonel Reeves (1100m) but his run wasn't viewed as good enough for him to threaten in the Winterbottom.
Pike said it was among his most satisfying wins.
"I have won Group Ones but this is right up there with them because of the quality of the opposition," Pike said.
"Not only do we have the quality horses but we have got the quality jockeys from overseas so it is a big thrill."
Pike said Hadabeclorka got a dream run at the right time.
"He was travelling really good but I was in a terrible position and going backwards and held up," Pike said.
"Then luckily everyone went searching for a run and I was the last one in line and went straight up the inside."