In a week of top quality gallopers Sepoy came out at Caulfield on Saturday and stamped his class and authority on the race track once again when taking out the $200,000, Group 2, Perri Cutten Caulfield Sprint (1100m).
In a dominant performance the Peter Snowden trained Elusive Quality colt was in charge from the moment the barriers opened even though he was a neck, as jockey Kerrin McEvoy judged it to be, slow in getting away.
McEvoy immediately sent the colt forward along the rails from barrier one and then slotted in behind Platinum Skye and Brenton Avdulla who came out fast from barrier nine and crossed to lead. Approaching the start of the turn for the run home McEvoy eased out to sit on the flank of Platinum Skye with clear room ahead.
Sepoy was taking it all in his stride, literally, and he waited for McEvoy to ask for another gear. Before that however they eased past Platinum Skye with 300m to run. Curtana and Luke Nolan with Mid Summer Music and Linda Meech tried to give chase on behalf of the rest of the field, but McEvoy was just biding his time with Sepoy idling to the 200m.
Then McEvoy shook the reins and the chestnut, carrying 2 1/2kg over weight-for-age at 55.5kg, went up the required gears and even though they eased before the line, with the colt not tested in any form, the margin was 1 1/4L.
Curtana (Exceed And Excel) (53kg) was second with Mid Summer Music (Oamaru Force) (53.5kg) third. Perturbo was fourth.
The win was franked with the time of 1.03.11 into a stiff breeze on the upgraded Good 3 track. The final 600 was covered in 34.38. Sepoy paid $1.20 on STAB and $1.22 on TAB Sportsbet Fixed Odds.
“He just ran 1.03.11, he is a very special horse,” said Snowden.
“He had everything against him, not a lot to gain, but for us he just showed the true qualities that he has.
“What he has done has not been done by very many horses, only champion horses and believe me, he is one of them.
“I am pretty hard with who I claim is special but this fellow is still learning his trade. There is all the hype and vibe about him taking on Black Caviar, but to me he is 12 months away from looking at a race like that. He is getting better and better and learning more and more about what he has got to do.
“He is just a very good horse. The times he is running and the way he copes with his racing and everything around the stable, he is just a credit to himself.
“I will not say there is plenty (left). He is there, as good as you can get, as I said 1.03 that is absolutely outstanding time, that horse is in the zone and it is my job to keep him there for two more weeks.
“Racing is a challenge. I have learnt that over the years. Every day is a challenge but when you've got good horses like this it makes the job a lot easier.
“He is a magnificent horse to work with, a true professional and it makes my job easier,” he said.
“He is a Quality horse and it's a thrill to be associated with them,” said McEvoy.
“He's probably not the flashest beginner as we have all seen but it just worked out nice. If the grey horse (Platinum Skye) was going to cruise across I wanted to be in a spot where I could just pop off and it worked.
“He was a little bit fresher today than what he was the other night and Pete is just ticking him along nicely with the Coolmore (Stud Stakes) the main one on Derby Day.
“He is very professional and just does it all.
“The better they are, the easier the job is (to ride them). I did not really raise a sweat and neither did he so it was a good effort,” he said.
While Sepoy is destined to travel eventually to Godolphin's stables in Dubai and England Snowden thinks that the colt may continue to race in Australian into the autumn of 2012. The stable will discuss the position with Sheikh Mohammed when he is out in Melbourne in two weeks for Derby and Melbourne Cup Days.
“He is very proud of the team here and so am I,” said Henry Plumtree, Darley's Australian CEO.
“He is a very good horse. His target is two weeks time from now but he has already struck gold in the Manikato. Peter has done a great job with him, he has been in work since June and it starts to tell on them after a bit but he has done a fantastic job with him and let's hope it keeps going for another two weeks,” he added.
The $500,000, Group 1, Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) is at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day, October 29th, one of four Group 1 races on the Flemington programme that day.
Sepoy is out of the Danehill mare Watchful and this was his ninth win from10 starts. Stakes are now $3,550,000.
