Prominent Queensland owner Nev Morgan never doubted Kovalica would win another race.<\/p>\n
He just didn’t know when.<\/p>\n
But the stars aligned on Saturday and Kovalica<\/a> returned to the scene of his Group 1 Queensland Derby triumph of 2023 \u2013 the last time he won a race \u2013 to score the rich Q22 (2200m)<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 PUNT LIKE A PRO<\/a>: Become a Racenet iQ member<\/a> and get expert tips \u2013 with fully transparent return on investment statistics \u2013 from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips<\/a> section. SUBSCRIBE NOW<\/a>!<\/b><\/p>\n But it was far from an easy watch to break the long winning drought as Kovalica dived at New Endeavour<\/a> on the line and no one at Eagle Farm had much of an idea who had won.<\/p>\n Not even Morgan, who thought he might have been narrowly beaten.<\/p>\n But when the judge put the winner’s number up, Kovalica was in the frame.<\/p>\n Kovalica may have not won for a long time and he has often been a tease.<\/p>\n But in fairness, he has raced at a high level including tackling a Cox Plate, Melbourne Cup, Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Doncaster Miles. <\/p>\n \u2022 \u2018The boys have done it’: Hayes proud of sons’ landmark Stradbroke success<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n “Of course I thought he would win again,” Morgan, who owns Kovalica with fellow Queenslander and great mate David Devine, said.<\/p>\n “Even before today, he had won $3.3m in prizemoney.<\/p>\n “He races in all the good races.<\/p>\n “I hope he could even be a Melbourne Cup horse this year, he only got beaten four lengths in the race last year. <\/p>\n “The maestro (Chris Waller<\/a>) will work all that out.<\/p>\n “I didn’t think this horse had won on the line today but my son-in-law said he thought he had, so I’m glad he was right.”<\/p>\n Kovalica WINS the G2 Q22 by a whisker! ????@cwallerracing<\/a>@nashhot<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/iK5rnPMjzJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u2022 Cool Archie delivers Group 1 milestones in JJ Atkins<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Winning rider Nash Rawiller<\/a> also had no idea whether Kovalica had broken the drought.<\/p>\n “It was a long ride back to scale, making sure that I’d got there,” Rawiller said.<\/p>\n “I feel like I’ve redeemed myself for saying he’d win the Melbourne Cup last year.<\/p>\n “What a horse he’s been. <\/p>\n “We made a call during the week \u2013 as late as Tuesday morning \u2013 to put the blinkers on today.<\/p>\n “You could tell in the run that he was going to do something.<\/p>\n “I’ve had a bit of a shit time lately, so I feel like I’ve bounced right back in a big way.”<\/p>\n Plenty have questioned whether Kovalica would get back to the winner’s stall, but not Waller and his team.<\/p>\n “We haven’t lost faith in him and he’s been a good horse without winning,” Waller said.<\/p>\n “It took the length of the Eagle Farm straight to get there. <\/p>\n “That’s his first win for a couple of years. He’s been working to something good.”<\/p>\n \u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/p>\n Brisbane Cup win fuels Melbourne Cup aspirations for Campaldino <\/p>\n \u2013 Daniel Pace<\/b><\/p>\n Campaldino<\/a> will be set for the race that stops a nation following his impressive victory in the $400,000 Group 2 Brisbane Cup (3200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.<\/p>\n The four-year-old gelding sat behind a dawdling speed early in the race before powering ahead of the pack to finish more than a length ahead of the Chris Waller-trained pair Etna Rosso<\/a> ($3.70) and Manzoice<\/a> ($12) to rubber-stamp his passage to the $8m Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November.<\/p>\n “You’ve got to look at that type of race for him,” said Adrian Bott, who trains in partnership with racing royalty Gai Waterhouse.<\/p>\n “He saw that out (3200m trip) strongly. Obviously we didn’t make any grand plans before today but that (Melbourne Cup) is always in the back of your mind.<\/p>\n “We just wanted to get through this campaign first and he’s done an excellent job.<\/p>\n “We were only focused on this campaign but now’s the time to go back and analyse what path we take to the Cup.”<\/p>\n Campaldino is simply too good in the G2 Brisbane Cup with Tim Clark in the saddle! ????@GaiWaterhouse1<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/fq0QZK0UUU<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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