A model of consistency, the six-year-old So You Think gelding Gentleman Roy made his stakes debut count in Sunday’s Group III Ladbrokes Sandown Stakes (1500m).
Ridden by Jye McNeil for Ben and JD Hayes, Gentleman Roy led at every call to defeat Military Expert (Redoute’s Choice) by three-quarters of a length, with Pinstriped (Street Boss) a length further back in third.
The Woods family homebred advances his record to seven wins, three seconds, and a third from 13 starts with earnings of $490,050.
“He’s just been on the up this whole prep,” Ben Hayes said.
“He put the writing on the wall with his first-up run and I think we did our best Alligator Blood impersonation there. We got inspiration from Gai and Adrian.
“He really rolled, and he really likes a rolling tempo. He gets everything chasing and was tough through the line, which I liked.”
“We had to win today to get enough of a rating to get in (to the Toorak Hcp). I’m hoping this win will sneak him in at the minimum weight.”
Gentleman Roy is a half-brother to dual Listed stakes-winner Jacquinot Bay (Galileo) who was fourth in the 2016 Underwood Stakes won by Black Heart Bart.
La La Land (Last Tycoon), the dam of Gentleman Roy and Jacquinot Bay, has a 2yo colt by Pride Of Dubai and was covered by Kooringal Stud’s Snitzel stallion Sandbar last spring.
Gentleman Roy is the 44th stakes-winner for Coolmore Stud’s So You Think.
