By David Nagel
The powerful Cranbourne training partnership of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace waited until the last two races on the card to claim training honours at Sandown Hillside on Saturday.
On a day when two Group-3s went up for grabs, the Maher-Eustace camp had three placings earlier in the program before Right You Are produced a dominant display in the $150,000 BenchMark-100 Handicap (1800m).
Piloted expertly by in-form jockey Ethan Brown, Right You Are exploded away in the straight to win running away by four lengths, with Beltoro ($6) and red-hot race-favourite Detonator Jack ($1.65) left in his wake.
The Maher-Eustace stable then made the short trip back to Cranbourne even more enjoyable, after their Irish-import Glory Daze was given a peach of a ride by Mark Zahra to score in the last race on the card.
Zahra settled well back on the inside during the race, before finding galloping room late to kick clear on the rails.
Glory Daze, who ran second in the Group-3 Irish Derby as a three-year-old, is a four-year-old horse out of Cotai Glory/Pioneer Alexander.
His win at Sandown on Saturday was just his second Australian start, after running a close-up fifth at Warrnambool on 8 January.
Eustace was thrilled with the win post-race, with Glory Daze having to overcome a sticky inside gate to get the job done.
“It was obviously a little bit of an awkward spot, but we knew he would be in that (predicament) from the draw, but Sandown is a lovely big track so we felt the gaps could open, and if they did, he’d be able to take it,” Eustace said.
The leading trainer in Victoria said the stable had a high opinion of the horse, but would take the proven path of working him quietly through the grades.
“He’s still got a nice rating, he’s won at 78-grade today, but naturally we’ll take him through the grades and get a bit of feedback from Mark (Zahra) as well,” Eustace explained.
“He’ll step up in trip, but we’ll just enjoy today and work out what he does after the weekend.”
The two Group-3 victories on the program went to the James Cummings-trained Zulfiqar, who took out the $200,000 Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) for two-year-olds, and to Wrote To Arataki, who was trained by Matthew Williams and ridden by Jamie Kah to take out the $200,000 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes (1300m).
Racing returns to Sandown this Saturday 11 February for a high-quality card of racing.
Highlighting the program will be the Group-1 CF Orr Stakes, with three Group-2 and Group-3 races providing a stellar support cast.
Preludes for the Blue Diamond Stakes will be run, while the group-2 Rubiton Stakes (1100m) will attract a high-class field of sprinters.
