Sansom stands tall in Bletchingly comeback
Stokes reveals Group 1 ambitions with talented sprinter after first-up Group 3 win
Almost four months ago, there was a small clue given by trainer Phillip Stokes that the best was still ahead of Sansom (Charm Spirit), who at the time had one stakes win to his name, the Chatham Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) during the Flemington spring carnival.
Victorian trainer Stokes, who also runs a successful stable in Adelaide, paid $600,000 for Sansom’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-sister at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, a figure that was more than four times what he had to give to buy the consistent sprinter in 2018.
Yesterday, Sansom returned in arguably career-best form to win the Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) first-up and Stokes now plans to step up the rising five-year-old gelding into unchartered territory in both grade and distance.
“We’ve put a lot of time into getting him to relax this time in and obviously Benny (Ben Allen, jockey) knows the horse super,” Stokes said after Sansom’s satisfying performance.
“He had to fight him for a bit, but once he got the cover, he knew he’d switch off.
“He did all of his pre-training at my farm, we’ve got an uphill training track there with two inclines and this is the first horse we’ve had race off it, so we’re off to a really good start.
“I thought he was vulnerable today but he’s a good horse and he’s in for a very good prep.”
Sansom, who was ridden by Ben Allen, scored by a short-head over gallant Group 1 winner Streets Of Avalon (Magnus) while Isaurian (Exceed And Excel) and The Astrologist (Zoustar) dead-heated for third.
He and the runner-up Streets Of Avalon are set to clash again in the P B Lawrence Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Caulfield on August 14 while the Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) in October at the same course has also been identified for Sansom by Stokes.
Sansom was having his first start since his spring and summer campaign which included a trip to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions carnival. He was spelled after racing at Flemington in late February.
“I’d like to see him stretch out over a bit further in time,” Stokes said.
“I think now that he’s got this run under his belt, if we can get him out to a mile, he might be a horse that can get into a Toorak or something like that.”
Allen continued his remarkable record on Sansom, which now numbers eight wins from 11 starts.
“He’s been a very good horse to me,” Allen said.
“A big thanks to the Stokes camp for getting me on him. He’s starting to mature into a nice horse and I reckon he’ll stretch out over a bit of ground.
“I’ve only sat on him a handful of times, including trialling him, but it’s been a big effort coming into this race off one trial. Phillip’s got an uphill track and it seems to have worked for him and he finished it off well.”
Mornington trainer Shane Nichols was delighted with the performance of Streets Of Avalon, who after breaking from wide was forced to do the chasing behind leader The Astrologist and he rallied strongly to finish in the placings, just run down by the swooping Sansom.
“He was super,” Nichols said.
“We’ll go to the Lawrence (Stakes) in three weeks.That was a hard run so it’s almost perfect timing into that race and then into the Memsie (two weeks later).
“We just hope that we get a firm deck for the rest of the spring, it probably won’t happen, we’ll get a day when it’s wet, but hopefully it’s not a main day when we’re in.”
Sansom, meanwhile, has already proven a good money spinner for his connections, winning nine of his 21 starts and $525,000 in prize-money after Stokes bought him for $140,000 from the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
He is one of two winners for Bryony (Fastnet Rock), a sister to Queensland-based, New Zealand Group 1-winning stallion Heroic Valour and a half-sister to Chris Waller’s Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Triple Honour (Honours List).
Stokes and agent Rick Connolly went to $600,000 for Sansom’s Zoustar half-sister at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale while Edinburgh Park Stud’s Ian Smith paid $150,000 for a sister to the Bletchingly Stakes winner at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale in May. Both fillies were sold by Widden Stud.
Hawkes Racing has the rising three-year-old half-sister to Sansom named Pretes (Zoustar) who was a $180,000 Easter graduate in 2020.
Bryony was covered by Widden’s first season sire Zousain (Northern Meteor) last year but she did not get in foal.
Winter Challenge made to Order for Waller
The Winter Challenge (Listed, 1500m) is aptly named.
Order Again (Iffraaj), a talented rising eight-year-old whose career perhaps hasn’t quite reached the heights it promised when he was a younger horse in Brisbane, was victorious in the Rosehill feature against a field of above average steeds whose time in the Saturday limelight appears just weeks away from disappearing.
Horses with spring aspirations are already at the barrier trials in Sydney and Melbourne and by the time September rolls around it is not unfair to suggest that the Winter Challenge contenders may well be in green paddocks instead of stables.
But that is taking nothing away from Order Again, twice a Group 3 winner when prepared by Brian Smith at Eagle Farm, or from his current trainer Chris Waller, who has proven time and again that he can expend wins out of the elder members of his extensive three-state stable operation.
Yesterday, Waller had three of the nine runners in the Winter Challenge and it was only James Cummings and Ziegfeld (New Approach), trailing in second, that prevented him from training the trifecta.
Order Again, ridden by a refreshed Hugh Bowman, surged late through a tight gap to defeat the rising five-year-old. Stablemates Sambro (Fastnet Rock), a rising seven-year-old, and True Detective (Shamus Award) ran third and fourth respectively.
The Challenge win was reward for Order Again’s late autumn and winter consistency, having finished third in the Scone Cup (Listed, 1600m) in May, second at Randwick in June and third in the Winter Stakes (Listed, 1400m) a fortnight before his breakthrough success.
It was Waller’s sixth win in the Winter Challenge from just nine runnings of the race.
“He’s been very consistent without a lot of things going his way. It was a well-timed run and in typical Hugh Bowman style he just got there in time,” Waller said.
“Normally we have to space his races but this time it’s only been 14 days and he spent three or four days at Tim’s (Boland’s) farm to keep him happy and healthy.
“That’s the key to winning races at this time of year, happy horses. He’s been running around some decent horses, obviously Bandersnatch last start was a very good win, so he deserves one or two (wins) when they come his way.”
Bowman would not rule out Order Again being capable of stepping up in grade in the coming weeks.
He said: “I think he’s going to start to come against better opposition in the coming months but he’s in good form, he’s fit and ready and those good horses are going to know he’s around if they race against him.”
Order Again, by former Haunui Farm shuttler Iffraaj (Zafonic), has won eight of his 37 starts with a further ten placings for prize-money of $640,275.
He is one of three winners out of the winning New Zealand mare Glass Half Full (Van Nistelrooy), herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner Jetset Lad (Elusive Lad).
Glass Half Full has an unnamed two-year-old sister to Order Again, a yearling colt by Sacred Falls (O’Reilly), a weanling colt by Ocean Park (Thorn Park) and she is back in foal to the Waikato Stud stallion this year.