3 minute read
Trainer and jockey quotes following the VOBIS Gold Reef won by Fistsoffury at Caulfield on Saturday.
Race Result:
1st: Fistoffury (Team Hawkes/J McNeil) - $2.80F
2nd: Socks Nation (C Maher/M Zahra) - $3.40
3rd: Inexorable (G Begg/D Lane) - $5.50
Winning Time: 1:38.47 Last 600m: NA
Margins: 1-¾ lengths x Neck
A fist pump for Fistsoffury
— Racing.com (@Racing) March 16, 2024
The Dundeel gelding scores for favourite backers @HawkesRacing @JyeMcNeil pic.twitter.com/kYyerUbWOO
Winning Trainer: John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes (Wayne speaking)
On winning with their first runner for the day: "Dear old dad always says, when you start off good, quite often it rolls, but when you start off and the first one gets beat quite often it just rolls that way too.
"Not that every other runner knows that, but it's amazing when you have a bit of momentum up and and going."
On how suitable the race was: "He had the right form and he had the right run, he just wanted old mate that was on the one-one to drop off at the right time, which he di.
"If you watch the replay, Jye wasn't right up the backside of the leader, he was sitting back a length or two just to give himself enough room to go forward without running up the backside of the leader."
"We never normally have a runner on this day because normally it's full of these races but dad saw it and said, 'there's a perfect race, it's a VOBIS race and he's VOBIS eligible'.
"We bought him in Melbourne, so it was perfect."
Future plans: "I suppose you say, do you run next week in a Bill Stutt (Alister Clark Stakes), do you go to Sydney for a Rosehill Guineas?
"John and Michael will sort that, don't you worry about that. I'll just do what I've got to do and leave that to the experts."
Winning Jockey: Jye McNeil
On the horse: "He's just such a dude, he gives you a lovely ride. You can put him where you want and do whatever you want with him in the race, he's there for you when you need him and he found the line really well over the mile today."
Did he deliberately steer a few horses off the fence: "I could see Ambassadorial just in front of me starting to get to its top and I wanted to get around the horse outside the lead and present, so that was just the lanes where I came but there's plenty of juice in the track, so it should be holding up through the day."
Should he back up in the Alister Clark Stakes: "I'll always to leave that up to Team Hawkes, they know the horse very well and they know the schedule even better. Wherever he goes I'll be happy to ride him."
