It is not often that a trainer is pleased to run second in a race, but Julius Sandhu was over the moon to do so at Geelong on Wednesday.
The runner-up placing with Do You Reckon in a benchmark 78 race over 1500m gains the gelding a start in the $500,000 Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) at Flemington on November 4.
It is the race Do You Reckon won at the Carnival last year and provided Sandhu with his biggest victory.
“There was a big prize for running second, a massive prize,” Sandhu said.
“I’m so happy for the horse and the connections.”
Sandhu has been training since 2017 and is yet to win a stakes race, having had limited opportunities, but likens last year’s victory to a Group race victory for the stable.
Do You reckon has been winless since that victory last year, but Sandhu has specifically aimed the gelding to repeat the dose 12 months on.
And Do You Reckon has got into the final a little earlier this time around.
Do You Reckon ran seventh in the corresponding Geelong race last year before booking his place in the final at Flemington by running second at Bendigo a week later on.
This time the pressure is off Sandhu who is afforded the chance to freshen Do You Reckon for this year’s assault on the larger slice of the $500,000 prize money on offer.
“We’ve tried to follow the same pattern as last time,” Sandhu said.
“We came to Geelong last year, we didn’t get the best run, we lost a shoe and then we went to Bendigo, and we were lucky enough to qualify.
“We singled this out race at Geelong a little more this year. We gave him a break from his last run to try and freshen him as he tends to run a bit better that way.
“He’ll go home, have a couple of days off, freshen up and we’ll take him to Flemington.”