Racing
Gentle Steel wins Murray Thoroughbreds Mystic Journey: Post Race Trainer and Jockey Quotes
Trainer and jockey quotes after the Murray Thoroughbreds Mystic Journey at Caulfield on Saturday won by Gentle Steel.
Race Result:1st: Gentle Steel (J Sandhu/J Mott) - $3.302nd: Photograph (B,W,JD Hayes/J Melham) - $2.50 fav
3rd: Soft Love (M Laurie/H Coffey) - $6
Winning Time: 1:04.36 Last 600m: NA
Margins: 1 length x Long Head
Winning Trainer: Julius Sandhu
On how the race played out: "It was pretty evident when the gates opened that she was going to land in front. She's got great gate speed and she showed that today.
"I think the part that was most impressive is she came around the bend and when he pushed the button she put two on them fairly quickly and on a track like this when you do that, you're generally hard to run down.
"So to see her come here and do most things right; she was nice and calm, she went into the gates great, which is sometimes a bit of an Achilles heel for her, so she's clearly developing into a nice racehorse and it's an exciting journey ahead."
On winning for breeders Luke and Mags Anderson: "If I'm not wrong, I think Mags and Luke own the mare, so big tick to them and they're doing a marvellous job and are a big supporter of the stable. I can't thank them enough.
"Luke's here today and I'm sure Mags is at home, she should be doing this interview – next time she's here we'll put her under the bus – but it's really good to get a nice horse for them, and repay them for all the hard work they put in., Hopefully there's more to come."
Future plans?: "I think we always got to this campaign with a view that we might end up in Adelaide somewhere.
"I think that that dream is still alive. We'll plan it out a little bit more but we'll go back home and do the things we normally do; make sure she's pulled up okay, and the rest of it and then we'll map a race out in between, but I'm pretty sure we'll end up in Adelaide somewhere."
Winning Jockey: Jamie Mott
On the race and the mare: "The race looked like it mapped well for her to control the race, albeit she was coming up against some quite highly-rated horses and she was coming out of the benchmark races.
"We've always liked her and she keeps impressing us and today was probably her biggest test, and she's passed in flying colours, so, onwards and upwards.
"She still feels to me she's not in the fully finished product yet, so it's quite exciting.
On the preparation: "I liked her her first prep, she's come back and the two jump outs were outstanding and obviously just having a feel of her at the jump outs this time around, she really showed us that she'd improved a stack and she's been to the races and hasn't been beaten this time in.
"Her record speaks for itself and that's some record she's starting to put together."
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