Gritty Victory For The Handsome One
- Saturday, 26 June 2010 05:29
It wasn’t pretty but The Handsome One won the $75,000 Hanan Displays Handicap (1200m) for three-year-olds at Flemington on Saturday.
Trained by Greg Eurell and ridden by Dale Smith, The Handsome One raced in fourth position behind the leaders Beyond Pardon and My Girl Helen.
When My Girl Helen raised the white flag approaching the final furlong, The Handsome One loomed up and joined a line of several runners across the track only to go home the better.
Beyond Pardon provided staunch resistance to The Handsome One but it only delayed the inevitable.
The Handsome One ($4.40-$4.60-$4.40 fav) defeated Beyond Pardon ($4.60-$5) by a short half head with Briefed ($5.50-$6) making up ground when it was seemingly over.
Recorrido ($11-$14) finished strongly up the inside of the straight to run fourth while Heard The Latest ($16-$21) held its ground fairly for fifth.
Smith has partnered The Handsome One at all five of his starts and believes he has a future.
“I rode his first start at Traralgon and as I said I thought there was something special,” Smith said.
“He’s really dug deep today, first-up on a Heavy (10) and wasn’t 100 percent comfortable but only good horses can do what he did.
“He stuck the ears back and really had a good fight today – he never gave it up,” he added.
The Handsome One has been gelded since last preparation where it managed to win at Traralgon on debut and then at Caulfield before trailing Denman in the Listed Zeditave Stakes (1200m) and Manfred Stakes (1400m).
“With him being gelded, he feels a lot better in his action in stretching out and really hit the line good today,” Smith said.
Smith believes the son of Shamardal will “get a mile” later this prep.
The Handsome One boasts a record of three wins from five starts with $149,000 in prizemoney next to his name.
Pictures: Fiona Tomlin
