A race of tactics flushed jockey Glyn Schofield to make a run on Sea Galleon before desired yet it matter little when it won the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) at Rosehill today.
The Victorian galloper made it a hat-tricks of wins despite racing keenly and hanging during the run.
The Colin and Cindy Alderson-trained galloper displayed a mix of staying power and quick acceleration which proved the winning formula.
Schofield had Sea Galleon midfield sixth while Merensky Reef led Strike One who worked to face the breeze.
By the time Strike One got their Scottish Border moved around both to lead, though staying one of the fence.
Yulalona was fourth having a good trail before Strike One, unhappy with the speed moved three wide again under Nash Rawiller.
The race was run at a crawl from the 1400m to the 700m.
Most jockeys realised it would be a sprint home and horses positioned, three, four and five wide bunched.
Schofield had enough and Sea Galleon was given his head and dashed clear at the point of the turn.
Yulalona was momentarily held up but disappointed to the line.
Sea Galleon opened a three length break from Nextanix and Gazza Guru at the 300m mark.
Gazza Guru’s run ended 150m from the line while Nextanix kept fighting to go down by length with Count Encosta running on but finished a long way back in third.
The race was a test to see if Sea Galleon could handle the clockwise direction.
The Aldersons are also eyeing off possible tilts at the 2012 Sydney and Brisbane Cups.
“He had a great spot in run but they all took off early and Glynn had no choice but to go and he used that good turn of foot up,” Cindy Alderson said.
“I think if you speak to Glyn he would’ve liked to wait until they had straightened.
“There is a nice race in him, he surprised me with his good turn of foot, he put pay to them at the corner.
Schofield said there was no tempo in the race.
“Stop, start, stop start – more stop than start actually,” he said.
“There was a bit of bunching early on, we stayed out of that.
“I probably had too much horse, the tempo was probably the reason for that.
“I got to the 600m and I let him roll.
“He was strong (previously) over 2400m on a heavy track so I thought I would let him go and see if the rest could outstay him and they couldn’t.”
“I told them (connections) before the race that he is the only horse in the race with a turn of foot.”
“If I can bottle him away to the 200m he will blow them away.
“But the race didn’t pan out where I could afford to sit and wait, I used his speed and he stayed on well down the straight.
“He has a lot to learn still, hanging and racing keenly but he has talent.”
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | SEA GALLEON | Colin & Cindy Alderson | Glyn Schofield | 5 | 53kg | $3.10F | |
| 2 | 11 | NEXTANIX | Kerry Parker | Jeff Penza | 1L | 7 | 53kg | $10 |
| 3 | 4 | COUNT ENCOSTA | John P Thompson | Brenton Avdulla | 4L | 2 | 54kg | $8.50 |
| 4 | 12 | SHADOW MINISTER | Garry White | Nathan Berry | 4.2L | 4 | 53kg | $81 |
| 5 | 6 | GAZZA GURU | Stephen Farley | Josh Adams (a) | 4.3L | 3 | 53kg | $26 |
| 6 | 5 | YULALONA | Peter Snowden | Corey Brown | 5.3L | 6 | 53.5kg | $4.60 |
| 7 | 7 | SCOTTISH BORDER | Garry Frazer | Mitchell Bell | 19.2L | 8 | 53kg | $14 |
| 8 | 9 | MERENSKY REEF | Gai Waterhouse | Tommy Berry | 20.3L | 1 | 53kg | $7 |
| 9 | 2 | STRIKE ONE (GB) | Chris Waller | Nash Rawiller | 21.6L | 9 | 58kg | $10 |
| 10 | 10 | ASSERTIVE BILLY | Steve Englebrecht | Shaun Guymer (a) | 25.8L | 10 | 53kg | $18 |
| 1 | SOLID BILLING | Craig Ritchie | Jay Ford | 0 | ||||
| 3 | SCOUTING WIDE (NZ) | Tim Martin | Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins (a) | 0 |
