Queen’s Sacrifice holds off fast finishers to break through for first win by a nose at Geraldton Turf Club

After 15 winless starts and five consecutive placings, Holy Spy was heavily backed to finally break through in the 1213m Wandina Maiden only to end as the bridesmaid again by the barest of margins. The five-year-old gelding had been runner-up in three of his past five starts and was heavily backed, along with three-year-old filly Diverse, to break his duck. But instead, it was the $31 outsider Queen’s Sacrifice ridden by Michael Poy, who managed his run to perfection, to claim the biggest upset at Monday’s Geraldton races. He burst out of the blocks to take the early lead while Holy Spy had a poor getaway, slotting in towards the rear of the field along with Diverse. The two favourites only slipped further back as Queen’s Sacrifice continued to lead the way out of the final turn. But Holy Spy and Gary Delane’s Aussie Euro went on a barnstorming run down the home stretch to leap through the field and close in on the leader. Holy Spy moved alongside but in the end he ran out of track as Queen’s Sacrifice claimed victory by 0.1 of a length in a massive win for trainer Ron Cowl. The other big surprise of the day was Sean Rains’ Wojtek overcoming a run of indifferent form to claim his first win in nine starts. After three wins and five placings in his first 16 starts, the four-year-old gelding had failed to place in his next eight races and was a $16 outsider for the race 4 handicap. But jockey Zephen Johnston-Porter seemed to find Wojtek’s best form, leading from start to finish to claim a dominant victory by 1.7 lengths. Earlier in the day, Tony Scally’s Daiyamondo held off Graeme Hammarquist’s pair of New Attraction and Special Plan in a bunch finish in race one to win by half a length. Race three saw another win for Scally with favourite Honorfic after the nine-year-old veteran burst clear to claim victory ahead of Navy Sun and Pilote. Pre-race favourite Platinum Shot claimed race five, timing her run to perfection to beat out Grey Mistress and Clever Combat by almost two lengths. Justhandy, an $11 outsider, claimed his first win in more than 10 starts in a late burst to edge out Mystic Love and Golden Fighter by less than a length in race six. What A Prince took out the final race of the day, improving from fourth at the turn to beat Allaboutthecraic and pre-race favourite Westozi.