While the cat's away, actually the cat is doing even better than he usually does when he's trainer Paul O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan was home in New Zealand, attending the Karaka sales with a number of other trainers, as his assistant Pierre Ng Pan-chi collected a double to keep his own strike rate intact.
"It seems we always do well when the boss is away," said Ng, although he stopped short of suggesting a prolonged absence after Class Five battler La Cote De Bleu (Matthew Chadwick) finally arrived home first in something and Why Why (Umberto Rispoli) made it two on end, unbeaten since joining the yard.
"The biggest issue with Why Why has been keeping condition on him, so it was great to see him come in today weighing four pounds more than last start with only three weeks between races," Ng said. "He was a bit light when he first came to us and we managed to put around 20 pounds on him, now it's just a matter of keeping the weight on him between runs."
Weight management aside, Rispoli said the win was straightforward, planting the gelding outside the lead and taking what turned out to be a big tactical advantage on the other heavily backed favourite, Super Talent, who charged late into second from the rear.
"The instruction was to try to go forward in case there was no pace, but I was a bit worried in the gates - he went up in the air twice with me," Rispoli said. "But then he jumped OK, I sat outside the leader and with a drop in weight going up in class today, he just kept going. He feels like he could win another in this class."
It was the second half of a double for the Italian rider, after getting Money Cafe home for Dennis Yip Chor-hong.
"Last time, he had a problem in between horses, which he doesn't like," Rispoli said. "So Dennis and I decided today he had to stay off the fence, but the race didn't go as we expected and he was inside.
"But my priority on the turn was to make sure I came out and gave him plenty of room, a clean race in the straight and he responded well."
