By NOEL MURPHY
IBICENCO, a Peter Moody-trained import ridden by Brad Rawiller, held off tough competition from Verdant on a heavy track to take out this year’s $180,000 Geelong Cup.
Verdant’s jockey, Ben Melham, took the race right down the wire in a hard-fought final furlong, with veteran Moudre in third place and Crafty Cruiser fourth in the 2400-metre event.
Rawiller lost his whip in the final stage of the race.
The Geelong Cup has produced two of the past three Melbourne Cup winners, with Dunaden in 2011 and Americain in 2010.
The six-year-old Ibicenco needed to win in Geelong, plus take on a significant weight, to bolster his chances of a Melbourne Cup berth.
The win was a buoyant victory for Ibicenco’s owners – a syndicate including Simon O’Donnell and Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing – who bought the German-bred, Luca Cumani-trained stallion after a disappointing showing last year.
The Melbourne Cup call is set for this Friday.
The Geelong course was on the receiving end of more than 16mm of rain in the 24 hours up to the cup, with crowd numbers down as a result.
But punters and fashionistas thumbed their nose at black skies and soaking rain to make the 2013 Geelong Cup an exciting albeit damp affair.
Moody was ecstatic after the win, with his camp describing it as “a tough effort” by Ibicenco and “a fantastic result”.
Ibicenco’s Melbourne Cup odds shortened from as far out as $71 before the Geelong win to $51.
The Geelong result returned punters $5.50 the win and $2.00 the place.
The race was disappointing for other Melbourne Cup aspirants including favourite Forgotten Voice, Team Hawkes’ Polish Knight and former European stayer Brigantin, all of which failed to place.
