Sentimental Legend gives Pike and Williams combination a stunning ninth combined win in the WATC Derby

Seldom do feature events see the dominance imposed upon them by a trainer-rider combination than that of Grant and Alana Williams and William Pike in Ascot’s WATC Derby, tallying their ninth joint win in the race with Sentimental Legend. Aside from their united successes, each of the respective parties have won the race independently of another, with Pike also partnering Cats Fun (2006), Grand Journey (2008) and Awesome John (2023), while the Williamses landed the 2013 edition when Ben Melham took the steer on Mystic Prince. With this in mind, punters kept the rangy gelding safe in the betting as a $2.80 second fancy behind Wonderfully Made ($1.95f), who had thrilled racing fans with her four-length WA Oaks triumph 10 days earlier. The match was set between the two from an early stage with Wonderfully Made striding to the early ascendancy and Sentimental Legend restrained to sit immediately behind her, allowing the big son of Brutal to settle better once obtaining cover. The favoured filly set just a modest early pace but quickened slightly through the middle part before further amping the tempo from the 800m, which got a few rivals at it. Meanwhile, Sentimental Legend continued to travel easily, and Pike burst him into the clear at the 400m to give chase to Wonderfully Made. However, soon after straightening, it became clear that Wonderfully Made could not repeat her Oaks heroics and was spent, leaving the Williamses hulking galloper clear with almost 300m left to run. But when asked for a supreme effort by his rider, the gelding exploded three lengths clear and instantaneously had the race in his keeping. Tahni Talk ($61) rallied into second place but more than two lengths astern, while another filly Masmelo ($14) picked up the pieces to be third. The Williamses can take additional satisfaction in the result having bred the loping three-year-old, with Alana – who heads the breeding operation – making the auspicious call to send their broodmare Sentimental Star to Brutal. “They never sacrifice winning an earlier one for the big one, so they always keep their eye on the goal,” Pike said of their training effort. “I think that’s why they’re so good at setting for these races, they just never take their eye off the prize.” Ominously, Pike said the youngster’s potential was not close to being yet recognised and slated him for a start in the Railway Stakes (1600m) later this year. “We’re nowhere near the bottom of him yet, either,” he said. “He was still stop-start in the run, and he wasn’t tracking true. Give him six to 12 months and another 50 kilos, he’s going to be a lot of fun. “I was always taught that a stayer can run a mile, a 1200m horse can’t. If he comes up at that level, absolutely (he could be a Railway horse). “You’ve got to have a go at it. It’s a handicap Group 1 and I know a couple of others didn’t perform there, but he was so good and I just know the improvement he’s got to come.” Pike, who won his first Group 1 in the $400,000 event which has since been reduced to Group 2 status, stated that his confidence grew from an early stage. “I was very happy with the way that unfolded. “My bloke made it difficult for everyone else - he was being a bit of a clown in the barriers – and when Lucy (Fiore, Wonderfully Made) looked like taking it up, I can’t ask for any more than that. “Her horse looked like it wasn’t quite at its best today and I was pretty concerned I was hitting the front on straightening. “He just gave me a good, sustained burst until he hit the front, and then he does wait and his ears prick and he clowns around. “But he won the race with that really good furlong kick before he started clowning around.”