Daqiansweet Junior (NZ) (Sweet Orange) has booked a ticket to the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival with his fourth straight victory on Saturday.
The Phillip Stokes-trained galloper relished the rise in journey when a narrow winner of the Mirasan.com Handicap (2500m) at The Valley.
Saturday’s victory followed previous wins at Pakenham, The Valley and Caulfield with the Gr.3 Hobart Cup (2400m) on February 13 in now in Stokes’ sights.
Sent out the $2.45 favourite under Jamie Kah, Daqiansweet Junior scored a half-head victory from the former New Zealand-based In A Twinkling (Fastnet Rock) ($7) with Starcaster (Dansili) ($5.50) a further 3-½ lengths away third.
Daqiansweet Junior was having his sixth start for Stokes on Saturday after starting his career in New Zealand with Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman.
Stokes said the gelding knows where the post is, with all his victories since joining his yard coming by a narrow margin.
“Full credit to the team at Pakenham, they’ve done a fantastic job with him,” Stokes said.
“He gets a gallop on the good surface at Pakenham and then does all his training at the farm.
“He’s strong and the tempo suited, and he gets his ticket to Tasmania now. I haven’t had a runner there before, so I’ll need to do a bit of research, but I’ll work that out.”
Kah said Daqiansweet Junior was a true stayer that was able to conserve his energy on a hot day.
“The race shaped out well for him, but I still think I probably got to the front a bit too soon,” Kah said.
“If I had it over again, I’d probably wait another couple of metres on him, but it was still a really good win and now I’ve learned a bit more about him I’d probably ride him a bit differently.”
Purchased privately by OTI Racing on the recommendation of bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo, Daqiansweet Junior is a son of the former Highview Stud stallion Sweet Orange and has now won six of his 15 starts and over A$214,000 in stakes. He was bred by Gillovic Bloodstock.
A race later Swelter Magic (NZ) (Ghibellines) brought up her sixth career win in the Mia Kleer Hand Sanitiser Handicap (2500m).
Trainer Kevin Corstens said the four-year-old mare has continued to improve and appreciated the step up in distance.
“She has just improved every time she has matured,” he said. “As she is getting older she is getting better which is typical of the Ghibellines breed.”
“She has been working super and had improved since her last start. It was 1800 last start and I just thought she was looking for that bit more ground.” -RAS Newswire,
