Deny Knowledge too good in the Grafton Cup

A bold midrace move by Blake Shinn has helped secure Deny Knowledge her third stakes win in the Listed Grafton Cup and provide an almost immediate return for new owners Yulong.

Content to let the speed go early, Shinn settled Deny Knowledge in fourth, but when the tempo slackened near the 1200m, he made a swift decision to take the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained mare to the front.

From there, Shinn controlled the race and Deny Knowledge ($2.45 betting fav) had enough in the tank to hold off the challenge of runner-up Touristic ($6) by three-quarters of a length with Thalassophile ($12) best of the rest, another 4-1/4 lengths away third.

Shinn said the winner gave him a beautiful ride but knowing she hadn’t won beyond 2200m, he felt rolling to the front midrace was the right option.

“She’s a natural leader and at 24(00-metres), we may have been a little suspect,” Shinn told Sky Thoroughbred Central.

“If I was going to burn the candle at both ends it was going to be hard and the pressure in the first 300 was quite quick, so there was an opportunity to drop in and rest around that first turn.

“When they backed off, I made a decision to roll to the top and get her into a zone where she loves to be, and once I was able to find the top, I was confident a long way out.”

The winner of the 2022 Group 3 Belle of The Turf Stakes (1600m) and last year’s Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m), Deny Knowledge was bought for $500,0000 by Yulong at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May.

Transferred to the Freedmans, she finished runner-up in Listed grade at her stable debut before going one better in Thursday’s Grafton Cup (2350m).

The victory by Deny Knowledge vindicated the decision to scratch her from last Sunday’s Caloundra Cup due to the heavy track and Freedman stable representative Henry Jaggard said she arrived at Grafton hard fit.

“She was gallant first-up off five or six weeks off and she tightened up really nicely,” Jaggard said.

“We’ve kept the work up to her and she came here a fit horse, looked great and the result speaks for itself.”

Deny Knowledge gave the Freedmans their first Grafton Cup success and Shinn his third after previous victories aboard Mr O’Ceiren (2013) and Bonfire (2015).