Stand To Gain wins Sydney Cup

Trainer Chris Waller experienced every emotion possible as he watched Stand To Gain win him his first Sydney Cup at Randwick while his mind was on fallen favourite Hawk Island.Hawk Island and Tinseltown both came down at the 700m mark with their respective jockeys Glyn Schofield and Kerrin McEvoy injured in the incident.Schofield suffered a suspected broken collarbone while McEvoy had a head wound and concussion.Both riders were taken to hospital for tests while both horses escaped harm.Stand To

Trainer Chris Waller experienced every emotion possible as he watched Stand To Gain win him his first Sydney Cup at Randwick while his mind was on fallen favourite Hawk Island.

Hawk Island and Tinseltown both came down at the 700m mark with their respective jockeys Glyn Schofield and Kerrin McEvoy injured in the incident.

Schofield suffered a suspected broken collarbone while McEvoy had a head wound and concussion.

Both riders were taken to hospital for tests while both horses escaped harm.

Stand To Gain, one of many European imports in the Waller stable, was the emergency for the 3200m Group One feature and was only confirmed a runner on Saturday morning when Mourayan and Montahlia were scratched.

"Seeing Hawk Island get back up on his feet was as good as winning," Waller said.

"And Stand To Gain was the right horse for the day.

"He has been set for this race for a long time.

"He's got his niche, he's a Group One two-miler on a wet track."

Hawk Island ($6.50) and Tinseltown ($21) were back in the field when the incident happened with Stand To Gain ($20) in the pack chasing the leader, New Zealander Solid Billing.

Stand To Gain went to the front inside the 200 metres but it looked briefly as if second favourite C'est La Guerre ($7.50) had his measure.

But there was plenty of fight in Stand To Gain and when Rodney Quinn asked him to raise another effort he responded while C'est La Guerre's run came to an end.

Older Than Time ($17) came late to finish a length second while Solid Billing ($61) rallied after looking as if he would be swamped to run third another length away.

It was the second Group One victory on the final day of the Sydney Carnival for Waller with another former European, My Kingdom Of Fife, winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

And for veteran jockey Quinn, it was a surprise Group One that almost wasn't.

"I've got a new phone and it doesn't ring properly," Quinn said.

"When the horse got a run they rang me at seven o'clock this morning but I didn't hear it.

"When I looked at my phone about 8.30 I saw there were seven missed calls from the stable.

"Luckily they still had the ride for me."

Quinn said C'est La Guerre definitely got in front of his mount.

"He was a head, maybe a neck, in front at one stage," he said.

"But my horse just fought back.

"The race worked out exactly as the stable told me it would.

"He was superior on the wet track, he just went through it easily."

Stand To Gain won two races in France in 2009 and began his Australian career a year ago which has so far garnered three victories.

"He was at the high end of the scale of horses we buy from Europe," Waller said.