Royal Symphony remains unbeaten

Trainer Tony McEvoy and jockey Dwayne Dunn celebrated Royal Symphony’s win.

Boom colt Royal Symphony has again lived up to the hype with another dominant Flemington win in the Taj Rossi Series Final.

The Tony McEvoy-trained two-year-old was elevated to Caulfield Guineas favouritism with some betting agencies after his impressive win at Flemington two weeks ago in a lead-up to Saturday’s Listed Taj Rossi Final (1600m).

The colt maintained an unbeaten start to his career from three starts and retained his spot at the head of Guineas markets with a 4-1/4-length win on Saturday, giving weight to all his rivals.

But it didn’t all go to script for the odds-on favourite who was slowly away before settling in the second half of the field on the rail.

Jockey Dwayne Dunn took an inside run on the colt turning for home to improve his position and once the $1.50 favourite wound up under his 59kg, he sprinted to the front approaching the 200m.

Royal Symphony drew away to beat Anchor Bid ($14) with another three-quarters of a length to Evil Cry ($5).

“I first thought turning in that I’m in a little bit of trouble but then he just picks them up so quickly, which is just awesome to see,” Dunn said.

Dunn’s wife Amanda is a part-owner of the colt.

McEvoy was again glowing in his praise and plans to give Royal Symphony a freshen-up before producing him in a couple of Guineas lead-up races early in the spring.

“He’s a proper horse,” McEvoy said.

“It was really nice to see him back it up and do it again.

“He carried the penalty today and he looked like a horse of real substance to me.

“That’s what we’ve thought of him and now that we’ve seen it twice, I’m really comfortable putting him away and thinking the spring is the right thing to do.”

McEvoy said his initial thoughts would be to look at the Caulfield Guineas in October third-up from the freshen-up.

“It’s such a high-pressure mile, so I think third-up would give the horse his best chance,” he said.

“I haven’t worked out what we’ll do leading into it.”