Lonhro Wins Again to Start Final Campaign

Octagonal's wonderful son, Lonhro drew within one of his father's 10 group I victories in a successful start to his final campaign in the C.F. Orr Stakes (Aust-I), at Caulfield on Feb. 7.

In a hard-fought and narrow win, his sire's trademark, the black 5-year-old just shaded the year-younger Vocabulary by a nose. Another distaffer, Sound Action, also finished hard for third a long neck away. The 1,400 meters was traversed in 1:21.97.

At his first start since third in the W.S. Cox Plate (Aust-I) on Oct. 25, Lonhro was the betting favorite for his 21st straight race. His price settled at 9-10 after evens had been freely laid, bookmakers keen to gamble against him on a track favoring leaders near the rail.

Darren Beadman placed him close enough in sixth of the 10 runners. Soon after they entered the stretch, however,  the champion still appeared to have too much ground to make up as the leading pack surged.

It wasn't pretty, but Lonhro gradually reeled them in and just held out the Encosta de Lago filly to win his 23rd win in 31 appearances. The almost $200,000 (Australian funds) took Lonhro's earnings past $4.5 million.

Octagonal, whom Lonhro joins at Woodlands in the spring, amassed $5.8 million in winning at 14 of his 28 starts in a glittering career.