Paul Theobald's $101 outsider wins at Wellington

IT might have been cold, wet and miserable in Wellington on Sunday, but for owner Ben Griffiths there was still a very good reason to smile as the gelding he backed as a $101 chance took out the Three Year Old Maiden Plate (1,110 metres).

With a fifth placing the best result that Attilus, a gelding Griffiths co-owns with Bathurst trainer Paul Theobald, had managed before heading to Wellington, he did not attract much attention from punters.

The Murtajill x She’s A Mountain grey gelding also had issues with his manners and injury setbacks.

But Griffiths had faith in Attilus and backed him early when he was in triple figures. That move paid off in a big way as by the time the race started, the Bathurst runner had shortened to $31.

Much of that was due to having champion jockey Greg Ryan pick up the ride on Attilus after the hoop Theobald had initially booked, Leanne Henry, was forced to withdraw after a fall at Tamworth on Friday.

“I had Leanne Henry booked, but she rang me in the morning and said ‘I can’t make it Paul.’ She couldn’t see out of her eye and her arm was blown up,” the trainer said.

“Greg Ryan was available, so we got him and I informed the stewards. They didn’t tell anyone until about an hour before the race that Greg Ryan was riding ... I knew that would blow it [long odds].”

Though Theobald fancied Attilus’ chances as he had “donkey licked” a class 5 runner from his stables over 800 metres in track work at Tyers Park a week earlier, he was not surprised to see him rated as a massive outsider.

“I wasn’t surprised, no, because of his form and because he’s been doing some things wrong and I have been correcting them,” Theobald said.

“He ran on ANZAC Day in Bathurst [after a 20-week spell] and it was a good run, but he had a little bit of an injury. I thought it was right, but it blew up and I had to treat it ... it was just a little cut, it opened up a little bit in the run and it got infected.

“It was my own mistake, it looked like it was 100 per cent right, but it wasn’t.”

After that run in Bathurst, where Attilus placed ninth in a field of 10, he was sent back to the paddock for six weeks. But first up on a heavy eight track in Wellington, the $4,000 purchase finally gave a glimpse of his potential.

Going from barrier one, Ryan guided him forward along the rails and quickly began to reel in early frontrunner Tennessee Icestorm.

Ryan then took Attilus to the outside and was on the leader’s shoulder with 500m to go, while the chasing pack was a further 1 1⁄2 lengths off the pace.

Attilus kept coming and as they headed into the final turn, he had pulled half a length clear. Down the straight Set The Limit ($2.80 favourite) came on his inside and Enduring ($5) on the outside, but Theobald’s gelding held on to win by 1 1⁄4 lengths.

Second belonged to Set The Limit, who nudged out Enduring by a short half head.

“It was a good ride and Greg followed my instructions ... I told him I needed him [Attilus] up on the speed and he did that. He [Ryan] was thrown in the deep end, but he did a good job,” Theobald said.