A fifth win at his seventh outing sees Detonator Jack likely to head back to Sandown on Boxing Day as a horse that is still a work-in-progress can notch his first stakes win.
Detonator Jack was sent out a $1.65 favourite and arrived at Sandown as the headline act on the first weekend in nearly four months without black-type racing Melbourne, and the third-placegetter in the 2022 Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m) didn’t disappoint with a strong finish to win the Tile Importer Handicap (1600m).
Zeigfeld ($61), trained by Gavin Bedggood set the more favoured runners a task at the top of the long Sandown straight leading by ten lengths and provided the extra challenge for the likes of Detonator Jack to run him down.
“The way the race was run and the field was strung out, this horse is all about rhythm and he can travel into it so well and he did today,” Jack Turnbull representing the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace stable, said.
“The step up in trip helped and we had to keep him at these distances because of the programs but the further this horse gets, the better he’ll get.”
Turnbull spoke with Maher and Eustace post-race and said that a race like the Listed Lord Stakes (1800m) back at Sandown on Boxing Day was a possibility for Detonator Jack to break his black-type duck.
“There is no set plan and nothing fancy,” Turnbull added.
“We’ll just let him go through his grades and get those rewards as we go through.”
Jockey Harry Coffey described Detonator Jack’s performance as ‘very workmanlike’.
“At the 800 (metre mark) I looked and saw that we a long way off them (leaders) so I pulled out and made by own run without getting a cart into the race which is very hard for horses to do.”
“He got there with ease and when he gets to the front he does have a look around.
“He’s always been a lad and he’s still got a few of those quirks in there.”
Detonator Jack won by 1/2-length over Pounding ($15) with So Si Bon ($21) 2¾-lengths away in third.
“You don’t want to get there (to the front) too soon because you know he’ll be good enough to get to them but then it is about keeping his mind on the job and getting him right through the line,” Coffey added.
“It’s all about timing and a track like Sandown Hillside gives him the chance to balance up.
“He did it the hard way against good old horses that race consistently and he’s relatively new to it all and had to step up to that.”