Valentine’s Day present

The second coming of Mount Olympus might not have many of the characteristics of the original, but the one that he does, is that he is a winner.

The first Mount Olympus was a grey and at his best over ground. The current version is brown and prefers shorter distances.

At Ballarat on Wednesday, February 14, Mount Olympus gave his owners a Valentine’s Day present with an all the way win in the Power FM Class One Handicap (1100m).

Trained by Tony & Calvin McEvoy, the three-year-old was easy in betting start at $12 but defied that lack of attention, crossing to the lead from barrier eight and resisting all challenges to score by 1-1/4 lengths from Imminance ($51) with Mahindra ($81), a neck away third.

Trainer Tony McEvoy was happy to remember the former Mount Olympus which raced in the early 1990s when trained by the Hayes family.

Mount Olympus won a staying race on VRC Derby Day in 1992 to qualify for a start in Australia’s most famous race.

“I was in Adelaide that day, but I remember Michael Carson rode him,” McEvoy said.

“It got him into the Melbourne Cup on the Tuesday, and he ran a very good fifth, he ran a really good race.”

McEvoy said there was a special ownership group in the current Mount Olympus.

“There is one very special owner, my wife Jo, and she is very happy with the trainers at present.

“He had trialled up beautifully for today.

“Luke (Currie) came off him that day and said he was ready to go.

“He rode him similarly today and the horse was fantastic.

“That was a very strong edition of that race, and I was very happy with him.

“He still looked very full in the paddock to me, and he will take good benefit from the run.

“He is a metro standard horse.”

McEvoy said it was good to have been able to renew an association with jockey Luke Currie, now back in Victoria after a stint in Hong Kong.

“It is lovely to have Luke back.

“Firstly, he is very good fellow, secondly, a high-class jockey.”

Winning jockey Luke Currie was impressed by Mount Olympus’ win.

“It didn’t look a bad race on paper,” Currie said.

“He did it from the outside draw today, we had to work our way across.

“He got there and controlled, then gave a very good kick.”

Currie said Mount Olympus was progressive.

“He is definitely going to be competitive when he goes to town.

“Last time with the blinkers he was probably doing too much.

“He trialled well for his resumption today, and first up he has shown he has improvement in him.

“He is definitely worthy of a run in town.”