3 minute read
A plan to come to the inside of the Flemington straight has paid off with Sirius Suspect.
Sirius Suspect has registered his first win in 18 months with a fighting victory in the Listed Santa Ana Lane Series Final at Flemington.
Saturday's success in the Listed 1200m sprint was Sirius Suspect's first since his win over the same course and distance in the Listed Standish Handicap on New Year's Day in 2021.
Sent out a $4 equal favourite under Ethan Brown, Sirius Suspect scored by a length from Florescent Star ($8.50) with Sartorial Splendour ($8.50) a further short-half-head off in third place.
While it was Sirius Suspect's first win since the Standish victory, it was also trainer Saab Hasan's first in the metropolitan area since that victory.
Hasan now runs a dual operation with stables at Flemington and on a country property at Tabilk in Northern Victoria.
"It's a credit to the staff," Hasan said.
"We've got two operations, it's pretty hard to run, and it's just a credit to everybody that rides him work and everyone that works at Flemington and Tabilk."
While winless this campaign, Sirius Suspect had been racing consistently and Hasan said he doubted Sirius Suspect had been going any better.
"He hasn't been running bad, he's been flying," Hasan said.
He's been getting on tracks throughout the winter that haven't suited him, and this is probably the first race that he's tackled that has been 110 percent suitable.
"I'll sit down with ATB (Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock), and we'll see whether we roll the dice again or whether we go to the paddock.
"More importantly we'll let Sirius tell us what he wants to do."
The nine runners split in two divisions down the straight on Saturday with Brown electing to go inside with Sirius Suspect clearing out from his rivals.
"I had a look at the track earlier and thought the inside was a bit better," Brown said.
"Saab was of the same opinion, so we backed our judgement and it paid off."
A specialist down the straight!
— 7HorseRacing (@7horseracing) July 2, 2022
Sirius Suspect makes it look easy for @saabhasan! pic.twitter.com/jE5odQ89jG
