The Matthew Williams-trained Unseen Ruler came from well back in the field to prevail in the Dennis Hanrahan Handicap (1800m) at Caulfield Heath on Boxing Day as the five-year-old gelding notched his fifth career victory.
Jockey Ryan Houston followed pre-race instructions to a tee as he enabled the son of Mongolian Khan to loop the field as he lumped topweight to victory by half a length from Stupendous and favourite Make It Sweet.
“He just doesn’t seem to like going inside horses,” Williams said.
“Daniel Moor rode him really well at Ballarat the other day and he said the same thing. He said he just didn’t like being in there at all, similar to Moonee Valley.
“So we just went back to how he ran really well when third the Swan Hill Cup and that was cold and out the back and give him his chance to get out.
“He got a lovely cart into it today and on the point of the corner I thought Ryan was riding very confidently like he had a bit of horse still underneath him and it worked out that way.
He has been in work a fair while and I wouldn’t say we’ve got him going any better at the moment than when he was third in the Swan Hill Cup, I just think that style of ride suits him.
“But as we know that style doesn’t lend itself to building a picket fence beside your name. You need everything to be going right in front and it unfolded really nicely for him today.”
Bred by the now defunct Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Group, Unseen Ruler was a $1200 yearling purchase via gavelhouse.com and later won a trial at Te Rapa for Matamata horseman Glenn Old before joining Williams. By triple Group One winner Mongolian Khan out of the two-win Savabeel mare Scarlet’s Secret, Unseen Ruler is a half-brother to promising three-year-old Stylish Secret, who won the Victoria Derby Preview at Flemington for Mick Nolan and finished fourth in the Gr.3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m).
