A $1 million race at Caulfield has seen success for the colours linked to one of Australia’s greatest turf performers.
Big Wigs surged from the outermost stall down the far side of the Caulfield straight to win the Showdown (1200m) on Saturday.
Phillip Stokes’ colt donned the colours celebrated by Makybe Diva, the three-time Melbourne Cup winner who died from colic just two weeks back.
Lachlan Neindorf steered Big Wigs ($3.70) to hold back the resolute $3.10 favourite Miss Chanel by half a head, as Knurl ($10) ended up third, 5-¼ lengths further adrift.
Rider Jordan Childs aboard Miss Chanel examined the head-on film prior to correct weight being declared.
Tommy Stokes, filling in for dad Phillip, hailed the win in the Santic colours as exceptional.
In South Australia, where Phillip Stokes began his training career, Santic gained recognition as Port Lincoln’s tuna fishing personality.
“It means a lot to have these colours aboard,” Tommy Stokes said.
“Mr Santic is here on course today and he’s brought a whole heap of owners with him. It’s a massive prize money race and it’s a race we targeted for a fairly long time. He’s been to Adelaide, he’s come back, we thought he’d be winning at Ballarat, but he ran into a smart one, but he’s been able to hold himself nicely here and Lachie summed it up perfectly.”
Pre-race in the enclosure, Neindorf devised a plan regardless of the wide barrier.
“I think we were all a bit worried when the barrier draw came out, but it was a blessing in disguise in the end because we had all the three main dangers drawn inside of us,” Neindorf said.
“I wasn’t sure where they were going to be but I was confident that I would end up on the back of one of them and I was confident that my horse had a good turn of foot and the extra rise in distance was going to suit him that little bit more. To be honest, I probably still let him go a little bit early. I probably could have straightened up and held onto him for an extra 50 metres before putting him through his gears because, jeez, he got there fast, but full credit to the runner-up, it was tough. I was really worried the last 50 (metres) that she was going to come back and almost get me on the line again.”
Visit betting sites for the latest racing odds on The Showdown.
