Trainer Phillip Stokes is hoping Sansom can raise the bar higher when he runs in the P B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield.

Sansom returned from a break to claim the Listed Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on July 24 and rises to 1400m at Group 2 level on Saturday.

Stokes is confident Sansom is up to the task saying the five-year-old is a more relaxed this time around.

The trainer pinpoints the uphill track on his property at Garfield, barely five minutes from the Pakenham racecourse, for Sansom’s newfound relaxed nature.

After winning the Bletchingly narrowly, but convincingly, Stokes said it was a non-brainer to head to the Lawrence Stakes with Sansom.

“It’s obviously going to be harder again,” Stokes said.

“But it’s the next stepping stone and he’s going in the right direction and if he comes through that, then we’ll have a go at the Memsie Stakes.”

The Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 28 is the first Group 1 race in Melbourne and the “opening” of the Melbourne Spring Carnival.

Stokes is also confident Sansom can stretch out further than Saturday’s 1400m.

To date Sansom has raced at 1400m three time, for a Group 3 win in the Chatham Stakes at Flemington last spring and a fading sixth in the Shaftesbury Avenue Stakes, also at Flemington, in February, while early in his career he failed on a heavy track.

“He’s a different horse this preparation,” Stokes said.

“We’ve trained him differently on the uphill training track at home and he’s loving life.

“I definitely think that the way he’s relaxing, I’m really hoping to get him up to the mile, it’s just depending in what level.”

Nominations for the P B Lawrence will remain open until 10am on Tuesday after 10 entries were received including Best Of Days, Nonconformist, Red Can Man, Streets Of Avalon and Superstorm.

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au