Joe Pride believes Stockman will take his typical whole-hearted nature to the Melbourne Cup after his almost two-length victory in the St Leger Stakes at Randwick.
The six-year-old got on the outside of Sacramento late on the straight to salute comfortably in the 2600m feature worth $500,000.
2022 St Leger Stakes Replay
“He’s a very good, honest, genuine stayer. He’d probably needs a bit of a wet track to be effective, but there’s nothing else for him in Sydney,” Pride said.
“I was going to run him in the Rosehill Cup, the old traditional Saturday before the Tuesday, a burn around over 2000m, but we’ll take him to Melbourne.
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for the owners and for the horse.”
Winning jockey Sam Clipperton was full of praise for his genuine long-distance competitor, who he described as a “personal favourite of mine”.
“It was just a beautifully-run race. They went along at a lovely clip for everyone to be comfortable and particularly my horse, he’s a strong stayer,” he said.
“He gets better as he gets out in trip. I was a bit disappointed after the Metropolitan (finishing fourth beaten less than a length), just they went too slow for him.
“I was sort of kicking myself I didn’t do a couple of things different. It’s lovely to win on this horse – he’s been a personal favourite of mine for a long time, and a great bunch of owners.”
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