Daqiansweet Junior has booked a ticket to the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival with his fourth straight victory on Saturday.
The Phillip Stokes-trained galloper relished the rise in journey when a narrow winner of the Mirasan.com Handicap (2500m) at The Valley.
Saturday’s victory followed previous wins at Pakenham, The Valley and Caulfield and the Group 3 Hobart Cup (2400m) on February 13 in now in Stokes’ sights.
Sent out the $2.45 favourite under Jamie Kah, Daqiansweet Junior scored a half-head victory from In A Twinkling ($7) with Starcaster ($5.50) a further 3-œ lengths away third.
Daqiansweet Junior was having his sixth start for Stokes on Saturday after started his career in New Zealand with Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman.
Stokes said the gelding, by Sweet Orange, knows where the post is with all his victories since joining his yard coming by a narrow margin.
“Full credit to the team at Pakenham, they’ve done a fantastic job with him,” Stokes said.
“He gets a gallop on the good surface at Pakenham and then does all his training at the farm.
“He’s strong and the tempo suited, and he gets his ticket to Tasmania now. I haven’t had a runner there before, so I’ll need to do a bit of research, but I’ll work that out.”
Kah said Daqiansweet Junior was a true stayer that was able to conserve his energy on a hot day.
“The race shaped out well for him, but I still think I probably got to the front a bit too soon,” Kah said.
“If I had it over again, I’d probably wait another couple of metres on him, but it was still a really good win and now I’ve learned a bit more about him I’d probably ride him a bit differently.”
