The start wasn’t perfect, but the finish was pinpoint as Regan Bayliss and Recommendation ended Zac Lloyd’s unbeaten record on Insurrection in a driving finish to the Razor Sharp Handicap at Randwick.
Lloyd hadn’t been headed on Insurrection in four rides and he almost made it five, lifting his charge as Recommendation challenged, but it was the latter who got the dive in on the line.
Bayliss credited the addition of blinkers in giving Recommendation a winning edge after the horse filled the minor placings at his two prior starts.
“A very well-deserved win,” Bayliss said.
“He’s been around the mark his last couple of runs and I think the addition of blinkers today, he’d drawn a plum barrier (one), always travelled well throughout and stuck his head out on the line.
“He didn’t jump as cleanly as I would have liked so I was a little bit on the back foot that first furlong-and-a-half, but then he was able to get into a nice rhythm and I knew that six furlongs is his pet trip, and he was going to be strong through the line.”
Recommendation gave trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace a black-type double on the program after they earlier took out the Listed Inglis Nursery (1000m) with promising colt Odinson.
Stable representative Johann Gerard-Dubord was thrilled to see Recommendation back on top, describing the four-year-old as “very genuine”.
“He has a very good record, his last couple of starts he has run well without winning,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“Last time at Kembla, the big track, he just found himself a bit lost. The blinkers went back on and the team has done a very good job with him.
“He’s a lovely horse and he’s got a great attitude.
“It’s a good group of owners, they’ve had a lot of fun with him and it’s good to get him back winning.”
Bayliss went to Randwick for three rides and along with taking out the Listed Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m), he finished a close second aboard Attractable in the $3 million The Ingham (1600m), the gelding only run down in the final bounds by Loch Eagle.