Phillip Stokes is hopeful the new work regime he has placed Sansom under can see the sprinter extend further in trip following a first-up win at Caulfield.
A more relaxed Sansom showed the benefits of Stokes’ new uphill 1100m track at his farm near Pakenham racecourse in taking out the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.
Sansom took his form to another level with his first-up victory and Stokes is now looking to extend the son of Charm Spirit out in journey.
Ridden by Ben Allen, Sansom ($17) scored a short-head win from Streets Of Avalon ($6.50) with dead-heaters Isaurian ($6) and The Astrologist ($7) a half-length away third.
Stokes praised Allen for his move on finding some cover aboard Sansom which allowed the rising five-year-old the opportunity to switch off.
“We’ve put a lot of time into getting him to relax this time in and obviously Benny knows the horse super,” Stokes said.
“He had to fight him for a bit, but once he got the cover, he knew he’d switch off.
“He did all of his pre-training at my farm, we’ve got an uphill training track there with two inclines and this is the first horse we’ve had race off it, so we’re off to a really good start.
“I thought he was vulnerable today but he’s a good horse and he’s in for a very good prep.”
Stokes hopes to raise the bar with Sansom this campaign.
A winner at Group 3 level over 1400m, Stokes hopes to stretch the gelding out to 1600m and potentially target a race like the Group 1 Toorak Handicap in October.
But first, Stokes is likely to head to the Group 2 P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 14, and a rematch with Streets Of Avalon.
Streets Of Avalon’s trainer Shane Nichols said the rising seven-year-old was super.
“He’ll have the perfect lead-up now into the P B Lawrence,” Nichols said.
“Three weeks will be spot on for him after a hard run like that.
“We just hope that we get a firm deck for the rest of the spring, it probably won’t happen, we’ll get a day when it’s wet, but hopefully it’s not a main day when we’re in.”
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au