The sport of racing evolves swiftly within a year.
One year ago, trainer Gavin Bedggood’s gelding Hughes captured a benchmark 70 at Caulfield over 1400m. On this Saturday, he elevated to Group 3 level by winning the Victoria Handicap (1400m) and shattering the track record.
A brilliantly handled effort by Jett Stanley had Hughes ($19) positioned midfield before darting through to hit the line 1½ lengths clear of Athanatos ($11), with Meridius ($9.50) one length off the runner-up spot.
Trainer Bedggood was taken aback by the gelding’s effort.
“He won a benchmark 70 on this day last year,” Bedggood said.
“But he’s a very easy horse to train. We learnt that fresh is best and we just try and space his runs.
“He was four weeks between runs today. He doesn’t do a lot of work. He had a gallop on Monday morning and then we’ve pretty much left him alone.
“It seems to work well for him, but I thought he might be getting to the end of it.
“He got very hot pre-race when I was saddling him up and I was worried about that, but it was a great ride and full credit to the horse.”
Following success in the Echuca Cup (1400m), Bedggood’s orders to Stanley remained straightforward.
“What I said was ride him ‘second half’,” he explained.
“He has to be ridden where he’s comfortable. We’ve tried riding him close in lesser grade and it hasn’t worked for him.
“John Allen got it right last time and Jett executed it to a tee today.
“He really likes that ducking and weaving sort of ride. He’s not a big horse, but he loves getting amongst other horses and it works very well for him.”
Hughes departs for a short beach break as his team evaluates prospects.
Bedggood hinted at the Golden Mile (1600m) in Bendigo next month as a viable target.
“He’ll go and have his week at the beach,” Bedggood said.
“Maybe the Golden Mile could be a race as that works within the four-week time frame, but he’ll tell us.”
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