The John O’Shea-trained Stroke Of Luck ($7) has broken the track record (2.21.16) in winning the $300,000 The Beauford over 2300m at Newcastle’s standalone meeting.
Running down the straight with a tail wind, the four-year-old proved too strong for Torrens ($12) by half a length at the post. Race favourite Sky Lab ($4.40F) made up steady ground from the back half of the field to nab third a further three quarters of a length away.
The son of Fastnet Rock had already showed his staying prowess with a handy third in the Queensland Derby in May and has now strung two wins and a second together from his past three outings.
Stable representative Tom Charlton believes his gelding deserved the victory today.
“Every run this preparation has been excellent,” Charlton said.
“Last time was quite a muddling race, there were a few hard luck stories and he was probably one of them.
“He’s a tough horse, enjoys his racing.”
After jumping out of the second widest barrier in gate 13, Charlton wasn’t sure where they would end up in the run but was happy to leave it in jockey Zac Lloyd’s capable hands.
“Just from the gate today we were probably a bit pessimistic about where we would get to. Zac was confident we’d get a spot and in fairness to him he pulled it off,” Charlton said.
“The strong tempo suited him, he stays well.”
Lloyd had to make up his mind on the run and was happy with his mid-race decision.
“I was in two minds there, if I wanted to go right back and get him to switch off or roll the dice as I did. Luckily it panned out,” Lloyd mused.
“He hit the front a bit soon. I didn’t expect him to burst as well as he did at the 400m and was toughing it out the last 300m all on his own.”
As to what’s next for the progressive stayer, Charlton was keeping his mind open.
“There’s options like the Christmas (Cup), also perhaps the Zipping Classic maybe down south,” Charlton said.