Sweet Thomas has continued his outstanding record in two-mile races to claim his second Stayer’s Cup.

Matthew Smith’s dream of getting Sweet Thomas into a Melbourne Cup might be at long odds to come to fruition but a second win in the Stayer’s Cup has provided a worthy consolation.

A two-mile specialist, Sweet Thomas backed up his victory of 12 months ago with another superior staying performance in Saturday’s renewal to post successive wins.

There are only a handful of 3200m events on the Australian racing calendar and Smith said it took a team effort to get Sweet Thomas to capture one of them two years in a row.

“I’m very proud of the horse and the team at home, they’ve done a great job with this horse to get him here today for a second crack at this race,” Smith said.

“There’s not many options for this horse.

“I’m hoping there might be some wildcards into the 2021 Melbourne Cup. (He’s) a multiple two-mile winner, you never know. I’d love to see him there.”

In a slowly run race, Brenton Avdulla settled Sweet Thomas midfield and kept him in a good rhythm under his 60kg top weight.

The nine-year-old and $2.60 favourite cruised up to the leaders in the straight and outstayed Kaapfever ($3.10) to score by a short neck with another 1-1/2 lengths to She Runs Away ($10) in third.

Avdulla said Sweet Thomas always travelled like the winner despite the narrow margin at the finish.

“I was never worried. I was as confident as you can probably get in a two-mile race,” Avdulla said.

“I just kept him out of trouble. The speed was very slow so at the half-mile I decided to pop (out) and just keep him in a rhythm. Every time Kaapfever got near me he just kept finding.

“He’s a talented horse. Matty has done a good job and he probably wishes there were a few more two-mile races around for him.”

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au