RACE 7: GROUP 3 LADBROKES BENDIGO CUP (2400m)
Winning Horse: Sayedaty Sadaty
Winning Trainer: Ciaron Maher
On the win and the preparation: “Fantastic. I’m just rapt, the team have done a super job with this horse. He’s lost his way a little bit, and as I said pre-race, we’ve got a good record with those stayers when you freshen them up (with) a good distance between runs. It was a beautiful ride then. Harry just seems to get it right on those stayers. The Archer run was very good and then that next one, it just didn’t suit him that race shape at all when the other horse took off and it can bottom a horse when they’re in a race like that but that’s why I’m just rapt for the team. The horse is very deep into the preparation, he’s run super and we’ll see where he fits in Tuesday.”
Satisfaction from the win: “We brought him out and we ran in a Caulfield Cup, that’d didn’t sort of work out straight off the plane, so it does. It gives me great satisfaction and the Bendigo Cup, what a cracking day, there’s a heap of people here and we always target well and the horses have run well (in the Melbourne Cup) that have run well in this race…High Emocean, Interpretation. Hopefully this horse is another one. We’ll just tick him over now and hopefully he gets a spot.”
Will he run 3200m? “He had a beautiful run then, I would be interested to see what Harry thinks. You don’t really know until you go to it but he’s had the right prep for it and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got it.”
On teaming with Harry Coffey: “His old man Austy helped me saddle up the four runners and he’s actually taken up the one in the next race because I thought I might be a bit busy here. Harry, he’s just a super bloke. He’s just growing in confidence every year and he’s just a big-race rider and that was super. Simply very easy to watch.”
Winning Jockey: Harry Coffey
On winning the Bendigo Cup: “Always good to win major races, especially on days like this. I spent a lot of time in Bendigo so I love this race day and I love winning the Bendigo Cup and I’ve been fortunate enough to ride some hand horses in it and this year I’ve been able to do it again.”
Was he always confident in the run? “It actually worked out perfect. I was almost like we went for a nice gallop and I produced him with 300 metres to go and it was like he just had to set out and run down his gallop mate. It was a perfectly run race for him, perfect set-up, I landed in a good position following good riders on nice chances and got a beautiful rails run, allowed the back made up a bit of ground to get on Jamie’s back and all I needed was an out and when that came he produced and was too good.”
On the horse and did Ciaron sound confident? “He was. I actually rang him before, because I didn’t know if he’d be here today and I had my Dad with me and he was going into a tent with some blokes and he said he needed a tip and I said ‘Which one’s the best in the Cup’? He said ‘That’s a silly question, you’re on it’. Ciaron was happy with the horse, that race the other day, it was a high-pressure event but there’s been a lot of form come out of it. Today’s scenario he got a beautiful run, brought his best and hopefully that gives him a lot of confidence and we can now see him run in good races regularly.”
Can he be competitive in a Melbourne Cup? “I won this race on High Emocean years ago and we saw what she was able to do in a Melbourne Cup and this bloke was probably just as dynamic, if not better today. Different fields, different scenarios, but this race the last few years has produced horses running so well in the Melbourne Cup and I think sometimes the Bendigo Cup gets forgotten about but the last few years it’d produced the good and I can’t see why this fella can’t do that again.”
On Austy (Coffey’s) role: “He’s doing some liaising in some tents with the owners, helped Ciaron saddle up … he might need a job, we don’t have many in work, so he might be looking for a bit of pay but it’s good to have him here. I’m pretty busy at home with a new baby so dad’s been driving me around and helping out and it does make things easier.”
RACE 6: PRESTIGE EVENT HIRE BM78 HANDICAP (1100m)
Winning Horse: Harry’s Yacht
Winning Trainer: Leon & Troy Corstens, Will Larkin (Larkin interviewed)
On how he’s come to hand: “He’s been prepping up really well the whole campaign and we’ve been very happy with him. He did the same thing last preparation as well; prepped up nicely with two trials and was able to go bang first-up.”
On Ben Allen’s winning ride: “He’s, he’s our stable rider, it’s well-documented, we love putting him on. He always gets it right, he knows them very well because he has a lot of work on him at home, so great ride.”
How the race unfolded: “For the first stages I was. They backed it off a little bit in the middle of tempo, and he can get a bit keen on the bridle and want to do a bit too much, and he did a little bit of it, but they were quickly tried to skip away again, so he was able to get in a nice rhythm. Just waited for a run to come but I was glad to see that it did.”
Can he keep improving? “Yeah, definitely. He’s always been a progressive horse. He’s probably racing 20 kilos heavier of his time in, so good spell’s done in the world of good. He’s a horse that’s still learning his craft and he’s still putting him away like that. I think 1400 is his best trip, so to see him do it at 1100 is probably a very good sign.”
Future plans: “Nothing set in stone. We’ll probably just keep racing through his grades, we’ve been doing that the whole way along, and he’s still eligible for benchmark racing so we may as well take that probably through the summer, and if we can find a nice Stakes race at the end of spring that’d be nice.”
Winning Jockey: Ben Allen
On the horse: “The horse, he’s a bit quirky. I think it’s first time I’ve ridden him raceday, I’ve jumped him out heaps of times and you’ve kind of just got to find happy medium with him.”
How it unfolded: “The tempo is suited. The horse has been jumping out really well, and we got the right run. We had a soft run from the draw. Just had to wait and get him into the clear, but he was very powerful late. I was really hoping they were coming ’cause he was just starting to bridle up a bit more. It was getting to the point where I just keep going with him a bit, so it worked that well.”
His ideal trip: “He’s good enough to stick for the shorter trips. But once he kind of gets into his prep a little bit, obviously, he probably takes away a bit from his turn off foot, but he’s a horse, if you can get him to relax over further and he can have that turn off foot, it gives him more options, so it’s very good effort.”
RACE 5: FILKEL BM66 HANDICAP (1100m)
Winning Horse: Sea Poem
Winning Trainer: Ben, Will & JD Hayes (stable rep Will Evans interviewed)
On the team’s treble: “Super, what a great day for the team. We brought three good chances today and for them to all win has been super.”
Pre-race instructions: “We left Nash with an open book, it’s never easy from the outside barrier, but he gave it a 10 out of 10 ride, cut the corner and came straight to the outside. The horse was nice and fresh today, back to the 1100. (She) needed the firm track, so when it came up soft early in the week the boys weren’t going to come here, but good 4 this morning, a tick, and she was here.”
Winning Jockey: Nash Rawiller
Similar to scenes when he won the 2000 Bendigo Cup? “Probably not quite, but I could still hear my family yelling out at the furlong, so it was pretty good. It’s always nice to come home. We had a nice cup ride lined up and Arapaho sort of ruined the weights for us, unfortunately. Rapt to get a winner for the Hayes boys. I was a bit worried when I saw they’d already trained a few winners, so the pressure was on a bit, but I think the mare’s always shown really good ability. You need that ounce of luck when you get back like that, but when you have the luck they’re brilliant and that’s what she was.”
Is she best ridden cold? “Probably, yeah. I think they know her better than me, but she’s probably one of those ones that is better kept fresh, not work too hard and you can see there at the furlong was explosive. She’ll win a better race, no doubt about that.”
RACE 4: TURNERS CROSSING BM66 HANDICAP (2400m)
Winning Horse: Tikemyson
Winning Trainer: Symon Wilde (part-owner Mick Symmons interviewed)
On winning today: “We’re a bit stiff last start, where Harry just got picked right on the line and the Horsham Cup, so we’ll do this one. He’s been going super the horse. Symon and his team’s been doing fantastic with him and we thought there for a minute it was going to be a bit of an ugly watch again and a bit unlucky, but ‘H’ got him out and the horse was good enough to get over the top. Fantastic.”
On the horse, his name and owners: “Yeah, he’s really consistent, and we’ve got a few first-time owners in the group, so it’s just good fun. Unfortunately, the wives were all back home working – the lads got away, but the wives are back home working – so hopefully they can get there in a couple of weeks. We picked him up from New Zealand, so he actually come over from there and it’s actually Tyke Myson, not Tyke My Son so we’ll have to get a shout out to the race caller to start going Tyke Myson.”
Future plans: “Symon thought about going to Ararat (Cup), but I think now he’s qualified for the Grand Handicap at Caulfield on the 15th. Hopefully he goes there, 2400 metres at The Heath. I’d love it.”
Winning Jockey: Harry Coffey
On bounding back after a narrow Horsham Cup win: “It is nice to atone. I thought we were home at Horsham, I still don’t know how we got beat, and then we did our very best today to try and get beat again. I was stuck and just with a big weight, it’s hard for horses to be held up and then pick up off the canvas and get the job done. He actually quickened a lot better than it looked once I got out, but just with the big weight it took a while for him to hit full momentum and he only won by a short margin, but he would have been told to win by a lot further. If he had had a clearer path and had a nicer gallop throughout and relaxed a bit better, it would have been a bit more of a dynamic win. So, although we would have loved to have won the Horsham Cup and still don’t know how we got beat, we made up for it today. I think that’ll be his go, those sort of country cups. He’ll be able to run in them for a long time and always be extremely competitive.”
On him as a horse: “He’s still just doing things a tad wrong too, he can get a bit keen. I would have loved to have been in the box seat, but I just couldn’t razz him up, I just wanted to be smooth, and as it turned out it was a tricky spot, but he’s tough and he probably doesn’t fully know what he’s doing or understands about relaxing just yet. When he puts it all together, he’s going to be a ripper.”
RACE 3: BENDIGO LOCKSMITHS BM70 HANDICAP (1600m)
Winning Horse: Entrusting
Winning Trainer: Ben, Will & JD Hayes (stable rep Will Evans interviewed)
On the gelding turning things around: “He was gelded this prep and we were clutching at straws at what to do after his second run so the blinkers went on today and after he walked out at the start we thought he wasn’t interested but he weaved through and Ben gave it a great ride. We know the horse has got a lot of ability so it’s great to get a win for the owners.”
On the horse: “When you’ve got a colt in these (Arrowfield) colours by The Autumn Sun you’ve got to aim for the stars. Obviously that didn’t work out, but he’s come back now gelded and it’s good to see him get a win on the board. Hopefully he can go back to town and get another victory.”
Winning Jockey: Ben Allen
On him being tardy away: “Blinkers going back on, he stepped very relaxed. I wasn’t too worried, but he just walked out. So the plan of trying to be midfield one off – the boys were keen to keep him outside of runners – but after missing the kick like that (I couldn’t). His replays and his form of recent (times) doesn’t show me that he can come around them so I thought we’ll roll the dice, ride for luck and he towed me right through the field. It was a good gallop early but got the splits when he needed to, he had a bit of a think about it in the straight, but it was good.”
On the horse: “His form last seasonon or the season before shows that he’s got something there. I think he’s been gelded since, so he might just take a while to hit his straps but today was a big stepping stone.”
RACE 2: CATANACHS JEWELLERS 3YO BM64 HANDICAP (1300m)
Winning Horse: Hey Jessie
Winning Trainer: Dom Sutton (stable rep Camille Piantoni interviewed)
On the filly: “We’re really happy with this little girl, she’s such a sweetheart. She’s always been a bit aggressive filly, but we tried everything to calm her down and then I think first time in that distance today worked really for her and we’re pretty happy to have a winner on Cup Day.”
On trying to get her to relax: “In the morning we try to be as soft as we can with her, just to make her happy – do what she likes – and then today with a bit of her change in her gear with a different bit and we also liked to have a bit of cover and have her as relaxed as we can. She loved it today.”
Winning Jockey: Ben Allen
On the feel she gave him: “She was good. Dom just said ride her to run out the trip. Obviously she’d never been out to this distance and we began well enough and there was a little bit happening early so we just had to take out medicine. I followed the right horse into the race and we were able to get the splits at the right time.”
On her attitude: “She was in a good mood today, she was very quiet. The pace was nice enough early, so with speaking to Dom, he just said don’t try and ride her into as spot, just ride her to run the trip out and we did that and got the chocolates.”
RACE 1: BIG AL’S WATER 3YO MAIDEN PLATE (1000m)
Winning Horse: Cavern
Winning Trainer: Ben, Will & JD Hayes (stable rep Will Evans interviewed)
Were they confident they’d found the right race for debut: “(One) thousand metres, first use of the track and he did everything right. He was slowly away, but once he found the lead, it was pretty easy. The favourite was held up, but it’s great to get a winner on a big day for Godolphin. He’s a lovely horse and he’s done everything right in the jumpouts. It’s great to see him get the win today.”
On the horse: “When he first came to us he was a bit colty and up and about, but he’s just settled in. He paraded perfect today, he was excellent to saddle out the back, and it’s great to see. He’s a very quick horse.”
Pre-race instructions and the future: “We just told him to be in the first four, so there looked a bit of pressure in this race and obviously he was the debutant. Ideally we probably wanted to follow something, but he bounced right there and he was very professional. Obviously a thousand metres today, he looks pretty nippy, so he gets to the front, so he go through the grades at this sort of distance.”
Winning Jockey: Luke Currie
What feel did he give him? “It was really good. I’d jumped him out a couple of times and thought he’d gone nice, but it’s hard to get a read in a couple of low-pressure jumpouts. He didn’t jump fast today, but mustered speed and when the horse from one sort of steadied he wanted to get his head up and go, so I thought to go with him and he got to the front and he spat the bridle and was quite good. He showed a good turn of foot when I asked him to go, and he just had to hold that right through the line, but he did that and did well.”
How did he think the race would pan out? “I envisaged probably being box seat or one by one, but he showed probably more speed than what he has shown in his jumpouts and he was quite professional. The (Hayes) boys get these first-starters up and going and well educated. So that’s how it worked out today.”
