Santos has held on to the win the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick this afternoon and further stamp himself as a colt to follow into the 2018 Golden Slipper.
The talented son of I Am Invincible was backed into $1.65 favourite to win the Skyline Stakes this week after a dominant win in the Pierro Plate a fortnight ago, and he did his chances of justifying the support no harm when jumping well and taking a prominent position on the outside of early leader Zousain.
Offered a clear racing line upon arriving at the final straight, Santos looked as though he would stride away from his rivals in the final 300m, but wasn’t able to muster as big a turn of foot and he displayed first-up.
The two-year-old did show ability beyond his years however and dug deep to beat a particularly impressive Spin ($7), who flew home from the tail of the field along the rails to finish a half-head second.
The Gerald Ryan-trained Legend Of Condor ($21), who also settled off the pace, run on well to fill the minors.
Jockey Tim Clark was pleased with the horse’s performance under pressure and is looking forward to getting back into the saddle for the Golden Slipper 2018.
“Probably just the edge off him a little after such a dominant first-up win,” Clark said.
“I think the three weeks now leading into the Slipper is going to be an ideal little break for him and he’s done a good job.
“He’s not the greatest horse out of the gates, but he’s getting better. He did a lot better today and you would have seen and I thought he paraded a lot better today considering the circumstances of what happened before the mounting yard (cast a plate), because that’s not ideal.
“He had a kick-out going through the tunnel as well, so things didn’t go perfectly to plan, but he showed his class.”
Santos has drifted slightly to $9 in our early 2018 Golden Slipper betting market following this afternoon’s impressive Skyline Stakes win, while Spin has surprisingly remained a $41 shot.