Progressive wet-track galloper Sotirio (NZ) (Wrote) extended his winning sequence at Trentham on Saturday, ploughing through the testing conditions to salute in the Hallmark and Stone 1300.
Lightly raced through the spring and summer, Sotirio resumed at his favourite time of the year in early May and took out a competitive Autumn Sprint Final at Rating 65 grade. After reviewing the programme, his trainer Matthew Eales elected to continue that formula, heading to the trials before returning to Trentham on Saturday, where he started second-favourite behind Tisse.
In the hands of Leah Hemi, Sotirio settled in midfield at his own leisure, while Shelbyrock’n strode out to set a decent tempo in the heavy ground. Both of the favourites had some ground to make up at the 600m, but Hemi cut the corner and came up to draw level with Peppery at the 100m, holding off a game Tisse to score by a half-neck.
Eales had been quietly confident heading into Saturday’s contest, but thought his charge may be under the pump turning for home.
“He does like a loose, heavy track, so the rain falling the day before the races and on the day was suited to him,” he said.
“I was pretty confident that he was better than he was first-up, he had a nice soft trial in between and then galloped super on the grass at Otaki on Tuesday.
“A smaller field helps, but Leah rode a terrific race. He probably wasn’t travelling as well as I thought he would, he was a bit under pressure through the mid-stages, but, she picked the right path and saved some ground cutting underneath them on the turn.”
The Awapuni horseman will be heading south again on short notice with Sotirio, hoping to go three from three in his new preparation.
“After he won first-up, he was then a Rating 75 horse, and because he likes Trentham, the logical thing to do was just to wait and keep his fitness up in between,” he said. “It was the perfect race on paper for him, and he’s got another Rating 75 1400 down there in three weeks.
“That’s definitely where we’ll head next time.”
A son of Wrote, Sotirio has now won five races from 24 starts and over $114,000, with the lion’s share of that prizemoney coming in the current racing season.
“He’s just a horse that has taken a while to furnish, he showed promise as a three-year-old but at four, I think he was going through growing pains and just never came up,” Eales said.
“Over the last year and half, he’s won four of his last 11 with a few placings as well, and it’s just been in those puggy tracks that he hasn’t fired through this time of the year.
“He’s really muscled up, he looks completely different and given that extra time, he’s really matured.”