French import Seawhatyouthink continued his excellent progress in his first Australian preparation for Warrnambool trainer Matthew Williams, notching his first metropolitan win at Flemington on Saturday.
Seawhatyouthink has won three of six Australian starts off a reoccurring tendon injury and could complete his remarkable campaign by returning to the venue on New Year’s Day for the $200,000 Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m).
Ridden by Dean Yendall, Seawhatyouthink ($3.20 favourite) defeated Constantinople ($26) by a head with a six-length gap to Wellsford ($26) in third, Dean Holland replacing the indisposed Jye McNeil who was unwell.
“He did a tendon overseas and a few of the OTI (Racing) horses have come out and done their rehab here through Andrew Cust at home,” Williams said.
“We got him up nearly to race and it (tendon injury) just flared up on us again so we backed right off and gave him another good break and rehab program – he’s got some very, very patient owners who certainly deserve the win today.
“This preparation he’s been lovely and sound, couldn’t be happier with him, he’s just a nice staying horse.
“He’s lightly raced and first time out to 2500 (metres) so he should take a little bit of benefit off that. We might have a look at a race like Bagot now.”
Tough. 💪
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Seawhatyouthink wears down Constantinople in a great duel to the post.@mwracing3638 @OTIRacing pic.twitter.com/uN0t3TUNMq
Yendall described the So You Think gelding as a ‘tricky horse’, believing the Northern Hemisphere five-year-old has to improve his racing manners to maintain his winning record.
“He’s still learning this Australian caper,” Yendall said. “We had a nice gallop, this bloke switches off, but he wanted to lay in before I asked him to go so I had to pull the whip through into my left (hand) and give him a reminder and he galloped on good.
“My bloke had the will to win and has a massive gallop under him. He’s going to benefit with a bit of time and probably a bit more cut out of the track. If he goes to better races he can’t be doing things wrong,” he added.
Seawhatyouthink won one of three starts in France in the first half of 2019. He has won three of six Australian starts since making his local debut at Geelong in early September, claiming the $30,000 Mortlake Cup (2000m) third up on October 31.
This article was written by Carl Di lorio and can be read in full through Racing.com here.
