Spirited Defence Breaks Ballarat Synthetic Track Record

Spirited Defence continued his remarkable love affair with the Ballarat Synthetic, producing a dominant performance in the Manahri Handicap to land his fifth career victory — and, in the process, rewrite the track record over 1500 metres.

The five-year-old gelding has made the Ballarat Synthetic his own, with all five of his career victories coming at his home circuit. Once again partnered by regular rider Johnny Allen, who has been aboard for each of those wins, Spirited Defence added to his record with another impressive victory.

The win also marked a new milestone for the son of National Defence, who was yet to win beyond the 1200m. The extra distance posed no concern, however, as he relished the 1500-metre journey and powered away from his rivals in the closing stages.

Jumping cleanly from barrier six, Spirited Defence settled just worse than midfield, travelling comfortably one off the rail. Allen bided his time before beginning to improve his position approaching the turn.

Full of running as the field straightened, Spirited Defence was briefly held up around the 400-metre mark before finding clear running. Once in the clear, he quickly hit top gear, racing away from his rivals to score by two and a quarter lengths.

More significantly, the winning time of 1:30.13 saw Spirited Defence eclipse the previous Ballarat Synthetic record for 1500 metres, which had stood since August 2021 when Under My Spell stopped the clock at 1:30.25.

The victory was the gelding's fifth from just 14 career starts, taking his record to an impressive level of consistency and pushing his career prize money to just shy of $150,000.

It was a performance that underlined both the gelding's affinity with the Ballarat Synthetic and his ability to stretch beyond his previous distance range. Having now won five races exclusively at the track, Spirited Defence is proving a genuine specialist — and one who may have more records within reach as his campaign progresses.