Fright for Robbie and congratulations from breeding giant after Platinum Dubai’s debut

Rider Robbie Hannam got the fright of his life when two strides past the post he realised he’d been racing a riderless horse in Platinum Dubai’s debut win at Otaki today.

Hannam was blissfully unaware that the red hot favourite Piaggio had bucked off rider Jason Waddell 100 metres after the start and it was his head poking up inside him near the finish.

Only when the horse started to veer out after the line, eventually carrying him right to the outside fence, did he see that nobody was on board.

Hannam, however, won his imaginary duel, the photo finish showing he had a nose margin, while the real runner-up Kentucky May was all of one and three-quarter lengths away.

While only a midweek 800 metre dash, it was an auspicious occasion for Platinum Dubai and her connections, Neville McAlister and Lincoln Farms.

Soon after the win trainer Lisa Latta received a text from breeding giant Coolmore Stud congratulating her on producing the first runner, let alone winner, anywhere in the world by their young stallion Pride Of Dubai.

The first progeny of the son of the ill-fated Street Cry were highly sought after at New Zealand Bloodstock’s yearling sale at Karaka in January, his short but impressive five-start career including Group I wins at two in the Blue Diamond and Sires’ Produce Stakes.

It’s seemingly a very tight finish but the horse inside Platinum Dubai, Piaggio, has no rider. PHOTO: Peter Rubery/Race Images.That, combined with the filly’s athletic build and perfect size to make a two-year-old, saw McAlister and Lincoln Farms go to $100,000 to buy her, with dreams of contesting the Karaka Million, a race John and Lynne Street won with Fort Lincoln in 2011.

And while a win in effectively a three-horse field isn’t enough to say Platinum Dubai will get to Ellerslie’s $1 million feature in January, McAlister says they’ll find out soon enough.

“She went a reasonable time today but we don’t know how strong her rivals were. She’ll have 10 days in the paddock now and be set for the Wellesley Stakes at Trentham on October 26.

“We need some decent opposition to get a better line on where we’re at and there should be a few more northerners in that race.

“If she goes well at Trentham and can earn a decent stake she’d probably have enough money to qualify and then we could turn her out and have one lead-up run before the Karaka Million.”

McAlister says while Platinum Dubai is a little professional, she still has plenty to learn.

Trainer Lisa Latta with co-owner Neville McAlister and ex New Zealand cricketer Hamish Marshall, listen to rider Robbie Hannam’s report after Platinum Dubai’s win. PHOTO: Peter Rubery/Race Images.“She’s still not sure what she’s supposed to be doing. Once she ran away, she didn’t want to get too far in front, which is a horse’s natural instinct.

“She was only doing enough to win but when Robbie asked, she gave more and really stretched her neck out to race that horse when it came up inside her.

“That’s what Lisa likes about her - she wants to do it. We thought she’d be very hard to beat today on the way she went at the jumpouts.”

Nobody was expecting to see Platinum Dubai in front today, however, with Piaggio in the field, a Vespa two-year-old “who went like a cut cat in front” on debut.

But when Piaggio missed the kick and Waddell gave him a real dig in the ribs to get him going, the colt objected, bucking the offender off.

That left the way clear for Platinum Dubai to lead and the filly responded in grand style for Hannam and her supporters who reaped a tidy $4.80 on the tote and $6 on fixed odds in the four-horse field.