3 minute read
Trainer and jockey quotes following the St Leger Trial won by The Cunning Fox at Bendigo on Saturday.
Race Result:
1st: The Cunning Fox (B Egan/P Payne) - $3.90 fav
2nd: Ashy Boy (J Fry/P Kearney) - $9
3rd: Fighting Arrow (D Thornton/C Calthorpe) - $9
Winning Time: 2:20.76 Last 600m: NA
Margins: Half-length x Half-Neck
It's the beautiful grey gelding
— Racing.com (@Racing) April 2, 2022
The Cunning Fox holds them all off in the Bendigo St Leger Trial.@JoefromPrime @Country_Racing pic.twitter.com/OE8Lyiubzc
Winning Trainer: Patrick Payne (Joe O'Neill interviewed)
On wining this race: "Patrick has done a great job, he said about a month ago that this was the race for him, we just had to work out how he was going to get him here. He had to run him in the Alister Clark (Stakes), which wasn't ideal, but when Paddy turned up here today I thought, 'this is a good sign'."
On the path forward: "He's a lovely progressive horse. He'll go the Galilee Series Final now on Easter Saturday at Caulfield and then onto the St Leger."
Winning Jockey: Billy Egan
On the effort: "It was a very tough performance. He's probably still a little bit fresh early in his campaign and a little above himself so I was hoping he might have switched off a little more in the run, but he is a tough bastard so I knew I was wearing out but I knew he still had a fair bit there."
On staying closer to the fence on the turn: "I just wanted to stay in. I didn't want to be taken off my course too much, I thought that could be the difference at the end of the race, I could feel him (Ashy Boy) coming and I just thought because he had done that little bit of work that might be the difference.
"I thought if I could save a length and cut through the inside that could be the difference and it was in the end."
On the campaign ahead: "As stayers do, they get better deeper into their preparations, so he's got a big heart and I think that'll take him a long way. You know he's a fighter."
