Lightly regarded Famous Seamus outsprinted group I winners Spirit of Boom and Buffering and captured the Bundaberg Distilling BTC Cup (Aus-I) May 10 at Doomben.
A three-time group I winner bidding for an elusive first top-level win before a hometown crowd in Brisbane in his ninth try, odds-on favorite Buffering was slow to start, then was quick to join pacesetter Tiger Tees at the front. He took charge sweeping into the straight but flattened out when Famous Seamus and Spirit of Boom came calling at the 200-meter mark.
Famous Seamus won by a half-length from Spirit of Boom, with Buffering scraping another three-quarters of a length back in third in the seven-horse field.
A 5-year-old Elusive City gelding, Famous Seamus was trying group I competition for the fourth time in his career before scoring his unlikely win in the BTC Cup.
Winning jockey Ryan Wiggins enjoyed his first group I win and told www.races.com.au before the race that he had noticed a marked improvement in form, class, and condition in Famous Seamus since riding him in a 13th-place finish in the 2013 Stradbroke Handicap (Aus-I) at Eagle Farm.
Famous Seamus covered 1,200 meters (about six furlongs) in 1:09.06 over a turf course rated as dead to tally his fourth stakes win and first in a group race. He halted a six-race winless stretch dating from a win in the 2013 City Tattersalls Club Lightning Handicap in October at Randwick. His record stands at 9-2-5 from 29 career starts.
Noel Mayfield-Smith, who trains for owners J. Simpson and Mrs. J. D. Simpson, said Famous Seamus would continue on to the Doomben 10,000 (Aus-I) May 24 at Doomben and the Stradbroke June 7 at Eagle Farm.
Keltern Stud and Trelawney Thoroughbreds bred Famous Seamus in New Zealand out of the Dance Floor mare Clinique. He is a full brother to Australian group III winner Ahdashim.
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