By David Nagel
Pakenham trainer Phillip Stokes may have unintentionally unlocked the key to his exciting three-year-old colt Celsius Star after a brilliant victory in the $35,000 Maiden Plate (1200m) at Pakenham on Thursday night.
The son of Zoustar/Celsius was having just his third race start after running second at his first two outings.
On both occasions, Celsius Star had hit the front in the early part of the straight and been worn down over the concluding stages.
But there was no such opportunity to race that way on Thursday, with jockey Ben Allen under lock and key, tucked away on the fence, as the field headed past the 300-metre pole.
Allen was forced to push his way off the fence, pulling out four wide, before asking the exciting colt for the supreme effort.
Celsius Star responded in the style of a good horse, exploding over the last 200 metres of the race to kick clear for an impressive victory.
Stokes was unaware that his colt had such a blistering finish in his armoury.
“We do now… held up might be the way to ride him, maybe we’ve been doing it all wrong,” Stokes said with a smile post-race.
“He’s a nice progressive colt.
“The back-up (seven days) obviously didn’t worry the horse, and off the back of that we’ll probably progress him to a midweek or something like that.
“He’s a nice horse and I think he will get a little bit further.
“I think he will eventually get to a mile, but he’ll probably only have one more run this prep, and then a break, and we’ll see where he ends up in the spring.”
Allen revealed his thoughts weren’t overly positive when he was tucked away on the fence, biding his time for a run.
But the jockey also had some high praise for his horse.
“I’m probably not allowed to say what I was thinking, but credit to the horse because you need a fair bit of ability to overcome that…I was held up for about a furlong,” Allen said post-race.
“Everything else had momentum, but he really quickened up good, had to come across them, and he got a bit lost when he hit the front so it may have worked out in our favour as well.”
Allen said their may be a change of tactics, riding the horse more patiently at his next start.
“I think so, at his last start I probably went a bit soon on him and I thought he had peaked on his run, but maybe he just thinks about it too much and got a bit lost when he hit the front” he said.
“But he’s got a lot of potential there…and he’ll only get better.”
Stokes completed a double in race eight on the card when Meltdown won for jockey Daniel Moor.
Fellow Pakenham trainer Peter Moody also had a winner on the program, with Daytona Bay winning for long-time Moody rider Luke Nolen.
Moody and Nolen also combined for a winner at Sandown on Sunday with Princess Rhaenys taking out the $50,000 Fillies and Mares BM70 Handicap (1600m).
The four-year-old mare was slow to begin and looked blocked for a run at the 300, but Nolen pushed through a gap to take the lead in the shadows of the post and hold on for a narrow victory.
Racing returns to Pakenham this Thursday 26 May.
