Johnny Get Angry broke his maiden in style in the Victoria Derby to give his owner/trainer Denis Pagan, a dual AFL premiership coach, and apprentice Lachlan King their biggest wins to date.
Training out of boxes he sub-lets from trainer Troy Corstens, Johnny Get Angry is only the 12th runner saddled by Pagan, who also owns the son of Tavistock and was in tears afterwards,
“When you win a premiership, you think there’s nothing better,” the 73-year-old Pagan said.
“When you win a Group 1 Victoria Derby, there’s nothing better. I can’t split them. I’m on top of the moon.
“I’ve never been emotional. I was potting (trainer) Chris Waller for sooking up, how am I going?
“It’s just something special. I never thought in a million years that this would happen and he’s (Johnny Get Angry) done it.
“You can dream about it. I’ve been thinking about it for the last two months, thinking about getting him here. I just wanted to get him into the Derby, it’s that exciting.
“Having been involved in elite level football, I just wanted to enjoy the week.
“I was zombie-like in AFL Grand Final week. To think of all the Grand Finals I’ve been involved in.
“I thought he was half a chance, but I was worried about the pace of the race. It was slowly run and I thought something like Cherry Tortoni was going to go whoosh. But it wasn’t to be.”
Pagan revealed he had been under pressure to replace the young jockey with a more experienced rider.
“Everyone was telling me I should be using a senior jockey,” Pagan said.
“But loyalty plays a big part in my vocabulary. Lachie has been loyal to me.
“It’s happened a lot in footy, sticking with young blokes, and I’m so glad I did.”
The 21-year-old King, whose Melbourne Cup-winning father Steven, rode two Victoria Derby winners — Star Of The Realm in 1991 and Helenus in 2002 – had never won a Group 1 until today.
“We thought we could win today, just whether we could pull it off,” King said.
“Just everything went to plan, it was a fairytale. I really have to thank Denis. He’s been the best thing to happen in my career. I just can’t believe it.
“I was travelling so well, but I remembered my Dad saying to be patient and when I went for him in the straight he just exploded in the blinkers.”