FIRST-UP WIN SHOCKS EVEN TRAINER CHRIS WALLER

THE Chris Waller-trained DANLEIGH scored an overdue Group 1 win in upset fashion in the $500,000 Sportingbet Manikato Stakes under lights on a wet Moonee Valley on Friday night.

In a first-up performance that even shocked Waller, Danleigh, $17, finished strongly to beat a much improved Phelan Ready, $17, with Nicconi, the $4.60 favorite, coming from last for a close third.

“I didn’t really expect him to do this,” Waller said. “He worked here on Monday to give him a look around the track. I didn’t think it was winning work but he came here for a look around.”

In one of the few races where the leaders did not fight out the finish, Danleigh was suited by the strong pace up front and burst through when jockey Kerrin McEvoy found an opening half way down the straight to swamp the leaders, Lucky Secret and Swift Alliance.

The Jason McLachlan-trained Phelan Ready reproduced his Golden Slipper winning form but the critics claim he was aided by the rain-affected surface. Whatever, it was a timely improvement for the three-year-old and would have put a smile on the face of his late trainer, Bruce McLachlan.

Jockey Stathi Katsidis was impressed by the effort of Phelan Read. “He’s back on track. He was terrific late.”

McLachlan said he was still looking towards the $1 million Caulfield Guineas, 1600m, on October 10 with Phelan Ready, which was a controversial scratching at the barrier from the Guineas Prelude last Saturday when the vet thought there was something wrong with his action.

“You can't tell me there was anything wrong with the horse the other day,” McLachlan said. “I'm probably obliged to go to the Guineas with him now.”

Waller said Danleigh would only have two more starts in his spring campaign, in the Group II Schweppes Stakes before another shot at Group I level in The Age Classic at Flemington.

“I think he’s a weight-for-age horse,” Waller said. “His next run will be over the same course and distance as the Manikato Stakes and I would expect him to improve on tonight’s effort.”

Apache Cat ran a great sixth at his comeback. “They just went too quick for him early. He worked home well,” jockey Damien Oliver said.

• THE big flop on the night at the Valley was the Singapore flyer, Jolie’s Shinju, which went like a mule and dropped right out in the Tatts Group JRA Cup. There were plenty keen to lay him before the race. It added fuel to the fire for the critics who claim that the standard of the top-liners in Singapore is far inferior to their Australian counterparts.