Lindsay Park and Daniel Stackhouse have combined with Shining Smile ($1.65) to claim the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (C/G) (1000m) at Sandown on Saturday afternoon, justifying the short price with horse racing bookmakers in stylish fashion.
The Spirit Of Boom colt was the only runner in the field of six with race-day experience, and it proved to be a clear advantage amongst the group of two-year-old, winning comfortably despite some nervous moments at the start.
Shining Smile was slow away and was forced to muster from barrier one under Stackhouse, and with no other runner electing to take initiative in the early stages, the team Hayes galloper was allowed to stride forward making a line of three as they turned for home.
Redders ($5.00) and Olatunde ($6.50) simply couldn’t match motors when the whips were cracking, as Shining Smile put two lengths on the leading division, leaving Yamashita’s Gold ($23.00) and Menshevik ($7.50) to do the chasing in the concluding stages.
It was to no avail in the end, however, with Shining Smile off-and-gone with the prize, producing his second career victory, and putting his hand up for Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) contention next month.
Ben Hayes was on course to discuss the victory, suggesting the race-day experience was a big advantage on Saturday.
“He jumped a little slow and Stacky (Stackhouse) gave him a little dig and we were lucky they didn’t go to cross him,” said Hayes.
“I think you could see he’s had three starts, he just went through his gears nicely, didn’t over-race which is good because sometimes they can when they miss the start.
“Stacky rode him beautifully and he won accordingly, and it was really nice to see.
“He’s the ultimate professional. It was really small field today with a heap of horses on debut, so we’ll get a better idea of how that race actually was over the next couple weeks when those horse come out and run again, but he’s done everything right.
“He’s right on track and he’s an ultimate professional.”
Daniel Stackhouse has ridden Shining Smile on all four occasions and believes the two-year-old has come on nicely this preparation.
“He feels a lot stronger,” said Stackhouse.
“He was a lot cheekier today, that’s why he missed the kick. He was throwing himself around and was a little bit anxious and ready to go, but he gathered himself up enough to travel behind the speed.
“I just wanted to hold my position, didn’t want a hard luck story or anything like that. He went through his gears once we went down the dip and just powered away.
“He’s strengthened up a lot both physically and mentally, and he’s always shown that he would do that. He’s such a beautiful strong little bugger, but he’s going the right way about things.”
Shining Smile is currently a $21.00 chance with for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on February 22.
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