Gold Coast: Sacred Oath, the horse part-owned by legendary cricketer Shane Warne, won its maiden career race on the Gold Coast, with its jockey Noel Callow rolling his arm over at the finish line in a touching gesture to the late spin wizard who passed away last month while vacationing in Thailand.
A report in dailymail.co.uk said that three-year-old bay colt Sacred Oath, ridden by Callow, won the 1,200m race to move up a class following the strong win on Saturday, adding that the jockey paid a "classy tribute to Shane Warne" by rolling his arm over "in a leg-break motion" just like the spin legend, as he rode to victory.
"The 47-year-old threw his right fist into the air after passing the post, rolling his arm over with a turn of the fingers too in a leg-break bowling action out of respect for the 708-wicket Test legend," the report said.
A report in sen.com.au last month had said that Warne, along with mates, "have a share in the David Vandyke-trained colt". The others personalities who have a stake in the horse include Australian Football League (AFL) players, Sydney's Jake Lloyd, Port Adelaide's Trent McKenzie and a syndicate of Fremantle players including Joel Hamling, Luke Ryan, Brennan Cox, Darcy Tucker, Blake Acres, Brandon Matera and Michael Walters.
Bookies and racing experts appreciated the 'tribute' from the jockey, with former AFL player Campbell Brown tweeting, "Very sentimental win that. Well done (trainer) David (Vandyke) to get the horse back in such good order after last starts incident. Great ride King and Lovely delivery. Hope u enjoyed that SK (Shane Warne)."
The report said that Sacred Oath won by a 2.5-length margin after "kicking strongly into the straight, which justified its short odds as the AUD 1.40 favourite. The maiden winner took home AUD 14,500 for its efforts in a terrific recovery after falling at a race in Ipswich last month".
