Smart four-year-old Evaporate bounced back from a setback to win Saturday’s Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) in gallant fashion, defeating favourite Transatlantic by a nose.
Lumping 59kgs and racing three-wide early in the piece, jockey Blake Shinn threw the map out of the window and elected to roll forward and dictate the running on the son of Per Incanto, who ran out a deserved winner.
Trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes will now target the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) with the gelding who finished fifth in the Gr.2 P.B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) when resuming in August before a minor virus interrupted his planned tilt at last week’s Gr.1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Ben Hayes breathed a sigh of relief after the bold tactics from shinn, greeting him with ‘Well done, Blake; I'm glad you won.’
“It was a very good effort by the horse, he had a mid-prep setback and he had a nice trial and to make a mid-race move like Blake did and hold on like he did with top weight just adds more merit to the win,” Hayes said.
“I am glad he won, he made the right move and the horse won so full credit to Blake. He's a very exciting horse like we've always thought and I think he's put his hand up to running in the Toorak and be very competitive.
“He’s had a long time between runs and he's come out here and beaten a very good horse to his inside there who's rock hard fit. I’m very proud of the horse and the ownership group, they're a great group and I think we're going to have a lot more fun with this horse going forward.”
Blake Shinn once again showed why he is one of the best, using his initiative after Evaporate was slightly over-racing early.
“Evaporate is an interesting horse, he is a bold-going horse and he is a bit arrogant,” Shinn said.
“The speed map had El Rocko and Transatlantic going forward, but the pace wasn’t that fast, so there was an opportunity for me to creep forward and get the front. I just have a lot of trust in this horse, he is a very good horse on his day as we know.
“Yes he had a break between runs, but I know how he likes to be ridden, you can’t fight him, you have to go with him, and that was the play we called on the fly and thankfully we got it right.”
Already a Group Two winner, Evaporate has now had 16 starts for six wins, five placings and A$1,591,726 in takes.
He was bred by Little Avondale Stud, home to Per Incanto, a son of Street Cry who has sired nine Group One winners and 33 stakes winners to date.
The dam of Evaporate is the unraced Animal Kingdom mare Savanna, whose half-sister Belluci Babe, also by Per Incanto, was a Group Three winner for Bjorn Baker.
Evaporate was bought by Lindsay Park Racing for A$330,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2023. – NZ Racing Desk
