Jockey Ben Allen and Sansom (NZ) (Charm Spirit) continued their remarkable association when they combined for a seventh career win in Saturday’s final Group race in Melbourne for the season.
The Gr.3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) victory at Caulfield, where he nosed out Group One winner Streets Of Avalon (Magnus), took Allen’s record on the Phillip Stokes-trained galloper to seven wins from 10 rides.
“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 he seems to have worked him and he finished it off well.”
After coming from off the pace, Sansom ($17) lunged at the right time to beat Streets Of Avalon ($6.50) by a short half head.
Stokes said that although Sansom’s best form is over shorter trips, he too was considering a step-up to 1600 metres for the winner of more than A$500,000 in prizemoney.
He praised Allen for his move on finding some cover aboard Sansom which allowed the rising five-year-old the opportunity to switch off.
“We’ve put a lot of time into getting him to relax this time in and obviously Benny knows the horse super,” Stokes said.
“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.
“I’d like to see him stretch out over a bit further in time.
“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 (Handicap) or something like that.”
Bred by Qatar Bloodstock, who have ownership in former Windsor Park shuttle stallion Charm Spirit, Sansom is out of the Fastnet Rock mare Bryony, a sibling to Group One winners Triple Honour (NZ) (Honours List) and Heroic Valour (Fastnet Rock). –
