Paul Perry trained Stratum to win the juvenile's holy grail of the Golden Slipper so it is no surprise that Newcastle based Perry has a progressive son of the now sire in his stable.
Today Stratana claimed his second win in succession, and fifth overall, when taking the $70,000, Sharp Handicap BM90 (1200m) at Rosehill.
Perry enlisted apprentice Shaun Guymer and his 3kg allowance to send Stratana out at 50kg and Guymer used every bit of the light-weight to sprint well from the top of the straight. Guymer had followed Rumour And Scandal and Tommy Berry through to the 400m mark and then he sprinted on Stratana.
Once in the lead Stratana did not give his opponents a moments opportunity to reach him and the winning margin was 3/4L over Regal Banter and apprentice Josh Adams claiming 1.5kg off 53kg, with Rumour And Scandal and Berry third, the margin a half-head.
The time was 1.09.42 on the Good 3 track, which was a new class record over the 1.10.73 of Balavan on October 1st 1973. The final 600m was covered in 34.03. Stratana paid $2.70 as favourite.
“I suppose with the claim in the weights and the way the track is racing it was looking pretty good for him before,” said Perry.“I was pleased when he took a hold on him and let the other one go to give him a bit of a breather but he is in good form the horse and he is on the way up,” he added.
“He always leaves the gates a half a length behind them. Mr Perry made it clear that to clear the barrier and make sure to use the weight and push him forward and it worked out well,” said Guymer.
