The Rowley Mile continues to be a happy hunting ground for Chris Waller with Skyman giving the leading trainer his fourth win in the Hawkesbury feature in the past seven years.
Lining up for the first time since taking out the McKell Cup in June, Skyman ($3.90) was well-supported to upset odds-on favourite Cross Talk and the money proved to be spot-on.
James McDonald was able to position the seven-year-old on the rails trailing the speed before popping off the fence in the straight and overhauling the $1.75 favourite, then staving off the late bid of stablemate Oscar Zulu ($8.50) by a half-neck.
Cross Talk didn’t shirk his task but couldn’t match the first two over the final stages, finishing a length away third.
McDonald said Skyman had been superbly conditioned to tackle the mile first-up and could continue to pick off some handy targets deeper into the spring.
“He’s the ultimate professional, beautifully prepared and with two trials under his belt he had that good ping in his legs and he showed that good turn of foot that he possesses at the furlong,” McDonald said.
“It was a beautiful tempo and he was able to get in a pretty good rhythm the whole way.
“He’s a class horse and obviously this is his sort of level, but there are plenty of races around for him.”
Skyman’s victory added to Waller’s excellent recent record in Hawkesbury’s Listed Rowley Mile (1600m), which he has also won with Savacool (2020), Mister Sea Wolf (2018) and Mccreery (2016) in the past decade.
Waller’s stable representative Jack Pilkington praised McDonald’s effort to give Skyman a near-perfect ride and said the horse continued to be a good money-spinner for his owners.
“He is picking up great prizemoney with his last couple of wins and onwards and upwards,” Pilkington said.
“He can probably go back out to 2000 metres as well, but he’s thriving and doing a very good job at the moment.”
Pilkington was equally satisfied with the effort of “old warrior” Oscar Zulu, who did a great job on the quick back-up from a minor placing behind another barn mate, Surefire, at Rosehill on Saturday.
