The Slade Bloodstock syndicate couldn't have been happier with the result of the Slickpix Cup at Caulfield with Imperial Command storming home to beat Beyond Pardon.
Slade syndicated the winner and Corinna Slade only last week bought, in a private sale, Beyond Pardon's younger Niello half-brother for an undisclosed sumfrom Chatswood Stud.
"We're pretty happy about the quinella," Slade said.
Imperial Command was originally selected by trainer Lee Freedman but Slade's split from that stable led to the galloper joining Mark Kavanagh.
Having his fifth start, the Commands gelding backed up from a last-start win on the synthetic track at Geelong on June 29 to score even more impressively at Caulfield yesterday. Ridden by Peter Mertens, he was near last most of the way while Beyond Pardon set the race up for the backmarkers with a tearaway early pace.
Mertens said that turning for home, he was worried that Beyond Pardon had too big a break but his mount responded well in the last 100m and mowed down the pacemaker to score by a half-neck with Princess Narine battling away gamely a long neck away third.
Stable foreman Merv Harvey said Imperial Command, who has won or been placed at all his starts, was a slow learner and even yesterday he was hanging in so badly that Mertens rode him on one rein in the home straight.
"He has always been promised to be a good horse but has had mentality issues," Harvey said.
"The penny is dropping with him and it was a very good win. I think he has got the scope to get out over more ground and in better races."
Mertens also predicted a good future for Imperial Command.
"Once he works out what to do, he is going to be better than this class," he said. "When they straightened, I didn't think we were going to catch the leader but in the last 100m, he hit the line strongly even though he was doing things wrong."
Slade said that Imperial Command's victory over Beyond Pardon was a great result.
"Beyond Pardon has won something like A$250,000 so what he [Imperial Command] has actually done is very exciting," Slade said.
She said John McArdle would train Beyond Pardon's half-brother who is a rising three-year-old. AAP
