Christian Reith capped a great day in the saddle with a narrow victory on Screen in the Group Three Golden Pendant at Rosehill.
Screen’s nose margin over Gybe in Saturday’s $250,000 fillies and mares event brought up a winning treble for Reith who also scored on the John O’Shea-trained Big Time and the Patinack Farm-owned Renewed Vitality.
Reith had Screen ($17) three back and off the fence during the 1200m contest before the Peter Snowden-trained mare came out after Sheraco Stakes winner Gybe ($9.50) over the concluding stages.
In a thrilling finish to the day, Screen got the result over Gybe in a bob-of-the-head finish with Ofcourseican ($4.60) a short neck away third.
“I was pretty confident I had won but it was pretty close,” Reith said.
“It’s been a good day.”
Screen’s first black-type victory also capped a big day for the Darley operation who had victories with three-year-old filly Disputes in Saturday’s Listed Reginald Allen (1400m) at Rosehill and also dual Group One winner Helmet in the Group Three Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield.
“I thought we got there but when you wait that long for the result you start to worry,” Snowden’s stable foreman Brad Widdup said.
“Screen was always going to be a stakes mare and it’s good she got the win today. She had a great run in the race and found the line well.
“It’s been a great day, we’ve had two stakes wins here and it was a big relief we saw the real Helmet in Melbourne.”
Three-year-old Big Time got Reith’s winning run going with an impressive frontrunning performance in the Listed Dulcify Quality (1900m), while the jockey was confident Renewed Vitality would run well in the Myer Spring Racing Fashion Handicap (1350m) after partnering the gelding in trackwork on Tuesday.
Renewed Vitality won by three-quarters of a length over favourite Somepin Anypin.
“He worked sensational on Tuesday morning and he backed it up today,” Reith said.
“I told (trainer) John (Thompson) on Tuesday that his work was as good as Trusting’s last week before he won the Hill Stakes.”
AAP TURF
