Lawborough captures the last race of Melbourne Cup Week

Consistent galloper Lawborough (NZ) (Per Incanto) signed off four days of superb racing action at famous Flemington by winning the last race on Champions Day on Saturday.

The showy son of Little Avondale Stud stallion Per Incanto came from near last over the 1100m journey down the Flemington home straight to storm past a wall of horses, headed by runner-up Tres Magnifique and the third-placed Esmahli.

Rider Jye McNeil played a waiting game on the Simon Zahra-prepared four-year-old, settling well back behind a wall of horses before angling to the outside rail at the 400m.

Allowed to balance up before being asked for a final effort, Lawborough powered to the front at the 100m and ran away to win comfortably by more than a length.

Zahra got the news his charge had gained a start in the race on Friday night, a relief to the stable who felt the horse was a big winning chance.

“I was driving home from Cranbourne night meeting about 11 o'clock, and for some unknown reason someone scratched so we knew last night we had a run,” Zahra said.

“We've been sweating on it all week. He's a horse we've got a big opinion of, and you saw glimpses of it today. He'll only get better as the penny drops.

“We have had to build him up nicely, he used to get a bit wrong, still does. So happy just to get his rating up and maybe the autumn and next spring is probably when you’ll see the best of him.”

Zahra was also delighted by the ride by McNeil.

“Damian (Lane) was doing a lot of the work on him, and then Damian was in Japan and then sort of went all over the place, and when Damian already had a ride Jye got the reward but Damian’s done a fair bit of work on him as well, so kudos to both of them,” he said.

“He's going to the paddock Monday, give him about a month off. We took him to Sydney to spell in the winter because we wanted him to come back ready for the spring. He did extremely well up there, thanks to the boys up there, he came back in great condition.”

Purchased for $250,000 from his breeder Beaufort Downs Ltd Book 1 Sale draft at Karaka in 2024, Lawborough is out of the High Chaparral mare Highly Valued.

He comes from an extended female line that includes multiple European stakes winners including Showcasing, who shuttled to Haunui Farm between 2011 and 2017, where he sired notable stakes winners such as Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) winner Hardline (NZ), Gr.2 Wakeful Stakes (1200m) winner Showboy (NZ) and Singapore champion sprinter Be Bee (NZ).

He has now won four of his nine 9 starts and $200,725 in stakes.