3 minute read

Trainer and jockey quotes after the Take It To The Neds Level Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday taken out by Mankayan.

Race Result:

1st: Mankayan (Matthew Cartwright/Maher & Eustace) - $14.00
2nd: Beltoro (Michael Dee/Robert Hickmott) - $18.00
3rd: Imperial Lad (Alana Kelly/John Moloney) - $9.00

Winning Time: 1:37.72 Last 600m: N/A

Margins: Short neck x Nose

Mankayan returns to the track in style @cmaherracing @MattCartwrigh14 pic.twitter.com/21Ua8Y4fBD

— Racing.com (@Racing) May 7, 2022

Winning Trainer: Ciaron Maher & David Eustace (David speaking)

Racing well fresh: "He clearly goes very well fresh, we spaced his runs a lot last prep as well. Things just sort of fell into place today, they went a nice gallop. (Barrier) one was always going to be tricky but it sort of opened up at the right time."

Plans this time in: "We'll let him go through the grades. He has got a nice rating, just to allow him to do that he's probably got a couple of more runs in open handicap company and keeping him fresh and at slightly shorter trips might suit him better. Ultimately we'd like to get him into a nice race in the Spring and he's in for a nice long campaign."

On Thought Of That: "He just didn't get the cover he needed, in the end he wasn't beaten far and we think he's come up well."

Winning Jockey: Matthew Cartwright

How the race unfolded: "It was a monster run today, he jumped really clean and there wasn't actually a lot of pace coming up the hill so I thought I'd roll forward and sit two (pairs) back without having a horse in front of me, letting him travel within himself. I stayed to the fence because the leader was always going to give a good kick, it's a tough horse so I followed it through, got a good run and he stuck his head out where it counts."

On the horse: "He's in for a good preparation. He's a horse that really likes building momentum and luckily I had the space to build and he was really strong late."