By David Nagel
A thrilling season of racing on the Pakenham Racing Club’s freshly-laid synthetic track came to an end on Friday with the running of the Sprinter and Stayer Series Finals.
The new track has been well accepted in the industry after the previous synthetic track at Pakenham was criticised for the excessive amount of kickback, particularly on wet days.
The new track, dark brown in colour due to the selection of sand, has contained the kickback brilliantly and been praised by trainers and jockeys alike.
Pakenham-trainer Phillip Stokes claimed the first big prize for the day when his five-year-old mare Unique Artist won the $50,000 BenchMark-70 Synthetic Stayers Series Final (2200m).
The daughter of Ivawood/Shamarlane has now won four races, with two of her three previous wins coming over the 2000-metre trip at Flemington.
Jockey Daniel Moor gave Unique Artist a gun ride throughout, settling on the fence before extricating himself on the turn.
Moor took the lead at the 200, but rolled in late, with Billy Egan, the rider of runner up Sous Les Nuages, firing in a protest.
But the one-length margin proved sufficient enough for Unique Artist to hang onto the prize and take her stakes earnings to a tick under $250,000 after just 15 career starts.
“She’s a pretty handy mare,” Moor explained post-race.
“I won a race on her at Flemington one day where she cantered up to them and put them away and won really convincingly.
“But she’s very quirky, in a sense that she really doesn’t like to lengthen inside runners, and she definitely needs to be ridden with cover.
“Last start was a forget run for her, she led and it was too much work for her, but today I thought she was very brave with the 59-and-a-half for sure.”
Moor said Unique Artist has the talent to win many more races, but things need to be on her side.
“She’s that type of horse, if a decent race came by and she had the conditions to suit she can be effective, but I just said to Phillip (Stokes) before the race that she’s a bit of a Goldilocks horse, it has to be just right for her, but she was brave with that weight today.
“I wouldn’t mind her stepping up in grade, but lower in weight, I think she’s got a really nice turn of foot with a lot less weight.
“She had to do it the hard way today, but I’ve ridden her before with less weight and she’s shown an electric turn of foot.
“I think we tentatively step her up in grade and probably at this trip.”
The stayers then handed over to the sprinters, with Cranbourne-trainer Gavin Bedggood taking out the $50,000 BenchMark-78 Synthetic Sprint Series Final (1200m) with Field of Roses.
The five-year old gelding – Deep Field/La Tikka Rosa – has only been with the Bedggood camp for three runs, after switching to Cranbourne from the Stokes’ barn at Pakenham.
Field of Roses has now won two races for Bedggood, who has had a quiet start to the season.
“It was a $50,000 race and after a frosty few weeks for our stable, we haven’t had a winner this season, it was good to get the monkey off the back and get the ball rolling again,” Bedggood said.
“We’ve had a lot of horses run really well, and run close placings, but we haven’t been able to get one on the board.
“It was nice to break the ice with this bloke who has been a really good pick up for the stable.”
Bedggood said he would now need to reassess the ideal distance range for his horse.
“I’ve always had him pegged as a horse who is probably going to be better at 1400, but the way he’s been travelling in 11 and 1200 metre races, I don’t really think there’s any need to stretch him out at this point,” he said.
“He’s a horse where probably ‘less is best’ work wise with him, and we’ll just keep him fresh and keep his runs spaced, he’s had a long campaign.
“We’ll just have a look at the calendar and find a suitable 78 and go from there.
“He’s not that good on wet ground I don’t think, so we’ll just keep trying to place him well.”
Celebrations for jockey Billy Egan were short lived, with the in-form hoop falling in the last race on the card from the Andrea Leek-trained Tagomago.
Despite being cleared of suspected fractures or breaks, Egan had surgery on Sunday to repair nerve damage in his left arm.
After a busy winter season, the Pakenham Racing Club will now have a break from racing before the night racing season begins on the turf on the Friday 14 October.
