The 5-year-old Savabeel gelding Forgot You broke a two-year drought in the Listed Furphy Melbourne Cup Day Plate (1800m) at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.
Ridden by Blake Shinn for Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, Forgot chased down the speed set by Sibaaq (GB), before holding the challenge of the fast-finish Warning by three-quarters of a length with a length and a quarter back to Sibaaq (Dark Angel) in third.
After winning the Group II Moonee Valley Vase (2040m) in October 2021, Forgot You rounded out his spring with a fifth behind Hitotsu in the Victoria Derby. The following autumn the son of Savabeel finished fourth in the CS Hayes Stakes, fourth in the Australian Guineas and third behind Anamoe in the Rosehill Guineas. He came out of the ATC Australian Derby with a tendon injury and spent 18 months away from the racetrack.
He came to Flemington off a third-place finish in the JRA Cup.
Trent Busuttin said it was a great day to welcome the 5-year-old back to the winner's circle.
“Cup Day, everyone is watching, and you want to win a race on Cup Day,” he said.
“When he broke down, he broke down badly. Everyone has done a fantastic job with him, and these colours know how to win.
“In his first three runs, he was probably still fat. He’s a bull, a five-year-old bull that had been off the scene basically 18 months.
“While he was going well, he was still racing himself into fitness.
“Running in the spring and group races, they’re hard to win.”
“I might shoot him up to Sydney on Saturday. Five Diamonds. A nice track gallop there.”
Natalie Young said Forgot You was building up to a win.
“He’s finally gotten that win today, dropping back to the 1800 (metres) on Cup day; it doesn’t get better than that when you’re winning on a big day like today,” Young said.
“The team have put a lot of work into it; our foreman Peta Tait, absolutely loves and adores the horse, so plenty of hours have gone into this horse to get him rehabbed and back, and he’s delivered today.
“His sixth run in, but he’s a horse that we’ve just had to be a little bit quiet with him this preparation because of that and he had that genuine tempo today with Annabel’s horse going out in front and it worked out perfect.
“Blake’s in fine form and all the owners are here today so it should be fun in the owner’s room later on.”
Bred by Waikato Stud’s Garry Chittick, Forgot You comes from one of Waikato Stud’s most revered families.
He is the second foal and second winner out of Simply You. A winning daughter of O’Reilly, Simply You is a three-quarter sister to stakes-winners Escadaire, Bonny O’Reilly and Group II winner Rare Insight, dam of Group 1 Coolmore Classic winner Steps In Time.
Simply You is out of Group 1 winner Glamour Puss a half-sister to Group 1 Doncaster Hcp, and Group 1 George Ryder Stakes winner Vision and Power.
After three seasons of misfortune, Simply You foaled a brother to Forgot You last spring and was covered by Savabeel’s son Noverre last spring.
