A thrilling two-horse war in the Metropolitan spilled over into a stewards’ room battle as jockey Reece Jones had to fight a second time to land his maiden Group 1 win aboard the Chris Waller-trained Land Legend.
Land Legend prevailed by a short half-head over Zac Lloyd’s mount Zardozi after the pair had gone stride for stride for much of the straight.
However, Jones’ joy at claiming his first major in Saturday’s 2400m race was short-lived when Lloyd fired in a protest, alleging interference on the turn after Land Legend shifted in and made contact with his mare
“He has laid on my mare quite significantly and given me a good bump,” Lloyd said.
“My mare has pegged back that margin and unfortunately gone down in a head-bobber.”
Jones argued there was contributing pressure from Zardozi’s inside and said he was “entitled to hold a very tight line”.
“He’s had the whole straight to get in front of me…I’ve actually had to claw back that margin he had put on me over the concluding stages and I was able to do so,” Jones told stewards.
Led by chief stipe Steve Railton, stewards didn’t waste time dismissing Lloyd’s objection, agreeing that Land Legend did lay in and make contact with Zardozi but that they couldn’t be satisfied it affected the result.
“The stewards aren’t comfortably satisfied that’s the case, so we dismiss the objection,” Railton said.
Their decision was a relief for Jones, who was thrilled to finally break his Group 1 duck.
“It’s a little bit surreal. I’ve been waiting for this day for a while,”” Jones said.
“I’m just really thankful to (owner) Bon Ho and the Waller team for keeping their faith in me and letting me ride him today.
“I’ve kind of waited my turn….I’m not the emotional type, but this is fantastic.”
Land Legend gave Waller his second Group 1 of the afternoon after he captured the Flight Stakes (1600m) with Lady Shenandoah.
He said the Metropolitan (2400m) had been a long-range goal for the former European, who only joined his team after winning the St Leger Stakes (2600m) at Randwick last spring.
“We picked this race out, I guess six months ago and said, we’ll do it third-up and make sure we’ve still got something left for the rest of the spring as well,” Waller said.
“When it was a hard-fought finish, I just wondered whether his condition would hold out because he’s actually quite a gross horse, he’s a bit of a bulldog. And he was tough the last 100 metres.”
Land Legend ($7.50) and Zardozi ($7) cleared out from the rest of the field with Unusual Legacy ($4.80 fav) best of the rest, another 3-1/3 lengths away.
