Crown Prosecutor’s $105 upset victory in Saturday’s Vodafone New Zealand Derby came three years after something very similar happened in the other showpiece race of Ellerslie’s March carnival.

 

In the 2016 edition of the $500,000 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup, which will be run for the 144th time this weekend, the nine-year-old gelding El Soldado delivered a $125 stunner.

 

The son of Colombia had finished seventh, ninth and ninth in his three lead-up runs, and he was the rank outsider among a 16-horse field. When he was trapped wide in the early stages, his chances looked even more forlorn.

 

But jockey Darryl Bradley made a daring move to take the lead with a lap to go, and the rest is history. El Soldado stole a march on his rivals at the 600-metre mark and put himself out of the reach of the strong-finishing placegetters Rose Of Virginia and Sacred Master.

 

“It really was a huge thrill,” Bradley said. “The feeling of winning the race, and the way the horse did it, was sensational.

 

“I’ll always remember the way the crowd appreciated the rank outsider getting up to win. The reception as we returned to scale was quite overwhelming.

 

“I knew that the stamina side of him was definitely there, so I thought there was a chance he might get the distance better than some of the others. I gave him a few little ticks on that front. I knew it was an uphill task, but you’ve got to go into these races with a positive frame of mind and I thought he wasn’t the worst chance.

 

“At the 800 I quickened up the tempo in front and I was really pleased with the way he came up underneath me and accelerated. I thought, ‘Jeez, we’re going good here.’

 

“At the 600 we quickened again, we quickened more. I started to think we had them in trouble. I snuck around the corner well clear and he was going brilliantly. The last bit can be quite testing, but he didn’t slow down. Then 100 metres out I knew they wouldn’t catch us and we had the race won.”

 

El Soldado became something of an institution in Ellerslie’s staying features. He ran in a total of four Auckland Cups – finishing second to Sangster in 2013, 10th behind Who Shot Thebarman in 2014, fifth behind Rock Diva in 2015 and winning in 2016.

 

He also ran in five editions of the Gr. 2 Avondale Cup, producing another major upset when he won as a $69 chance in 2017.

 

El Soldado was trained by Phillip Devcich, who shared ownership with Brett and Christine Higginson. He finished his career with a record of 79 starts for eight wins, 14 placings and $606,000 in prize-money.

In addition to his Ellerslie exploits, he also showed some ability over jumps – finishing second, third and fourth in three starts over hurdles behind the likes of Just Got Home and Real Treasure.