Piloted by Mark Zahra, the five-year-old settled well on the outside of the leader and burst clear at the top of the straight to record 2.75 length victory.
It was the son of Leroidesanimaux’s fifth start in Australia and was coming off a five-week break after finishing midfield in the Group 3 Easter Cup.
Co-trainer Sam Freedman said knew Le Don De Vie’s class would prevail.
“Big thank you to all the owners. They sent him to us for the spring and he ran a narrow second in the Geelong Cup. We knew if he ran up to that today then he’d have a class edge on the field,” he said.
“We thought maybe he’d be better on a firm track when he first came out, but the longer we’ve got to know him we’ve learnt that with cut in the ground he’s better.
“He might have a Queensland trip on the agenda now given he won that impressively. Something like the Doomben Cup. With the way he’s run there he might get over a bit further as well.”
The five-year-old jumped well from barrier 11 and was able to get his way across the field to sit outside the leader before the first bend.
Zahra positioned the gelding on the hindquarters of the leader, before moving up as they rounded the home turn.
He let down beautifully when he straightened, skipping away to a big margin, with Zahra able to sit up and ease Le Don De Vie over the finish line.
Zahra was happy with the gelding’s performance.
“It was a good win. Funny horse,” he said.
“In parts of the race I thought it might be going a bit too keen but then he’d come back and relax. But when I asked, and I was milking Blenheim Palace as long as I could to get as good a lead in as I could.
“When I took over and asked him and put one on his tail he really put pay to them.”
It was Zahra’s second win in the Warrnambool Cup, having won the race back in 2007 aboard Sarrera.
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au