3 minute read
Trainer and jockey quotes after Ayrton takes out the Ken Sturt Benchmark 70 3YO Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday.
Race Result:
1st: Ayrton (M Price & M Kent Jnr/Jamie Kah) - $1.55F
2nd: Beltoro (R Hickmott/Jack Hill) - $5
3rd: Safeeya (M Price & M Kent Jnr/Michael Walker) - $8.50
Winning Time: 1:21.96 Last 600m: N/A
Margins: 4¼L x 1¾L
"Ayrton will win better races than that!"
— Racing.com (@Racing) December 26, 2020
He sure will. Made to do work early and still blew them away! @jamieleekah07 @MickPriceRacing @RolltheDiceRace @MichaelRhysKent
Winning Trainer: Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr (Mick speaking)
"Each race is a test, it's a very big effort to go up in class and distance at his second start and to do that. I just thought (when) saddling him up in the mounting yard, pre-race, behind the gates, stressy, lightened off, and for him to still get challenged - I saw Teo (Tanker) kicking up on the fence and three-deep for the first four or five hundred metres - he did relax midrace to a point.
"But for him to work away and run that time obviously he's a group horse coming. But he'll go to the paddock now and we'll just have to have a think about what to do with him in the autumn. I thought it was an outstanding win."
Melbourne autumn could be too early: "It may. Depending on what he does in the paddock, I'm obviously not going to bottom him out. I'm hoping that he does well in a few weeks and we'll have a look at him in the paddock and take it from there.
"He's probably a typical Kiwi horse, they take their time to mature. He's not got an Australian bright shiny coat on him at the moment. I think he's a bit ribby and a bit tucked up, but just looking at the win it is certainly indicative of a group horse coming."
On Safeeya: "I think we'll try her over a mile. She ran well. She sort of lost the plot for a hundred metres there between about the 400 and the 300 (metre mark). I'm not sure what happened there. She's in a different class."
Winning Jockey: Jamie Kah
"He's just raw talent at the minute. He doesn't know how to quicken yet but his stride just lengthens. That's a sign of a good horse. He's still doing a lot wrong. He's sweating up behind the gates, he's on the wrong leg around the turn but once he puts it together it is very exciting to see where he's going to go.
Keeping him calm: "You've just got to give him a bit of rein, this horse. He gets his head up and he panics a bit so (have to) keep him quiet behind the gates but because of the weather he sweated up a lot. There was a lot of merit to that win."
Getting up in trip: "I said to Mick after the first win that this horse is going to be amazing over 2000 metres-plus. He was a bit highly-strung today but I think once the penny drops and he settles, I think over a bit of ground he'll be very talented."
