The colours of a Legend of the Australian turf have been carried to victory in a $1 million race at Caulfield.
Big Wigs defied the widest draw to sweep down the outside of the Caulfield straight to claim the Showdown (1200m) on Saturday.
The Phillip Stokes-trained colt carried the colours made famous by three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva who died two weeks ago following a bout of colic.
Ridden by Lachlan Neindorf, Big Wigs ($3.70) held-out a determined $3.10 favourite Miss Chanel to score by a half-head with Knurl ($10) a further 5-¼ lengths away third.
Jordan Childs, the rider of Miss Chanel, had a look at the head-on version of the race before correct weight was notified.
Tommy Stokes, deputising for his father Phillip, said it was a fantastic result to win a race in the Santic colours.
Phillip Stokes cut his teeth as a trainer in South Australia while Santic grew to fame as the tuna fisherman from the South Australian fishing port in Port Lincoln.
“It means a lot to have these colours aboard,” Tommy Stokes said.
“Mr Santic is here on course today and he’s brought a whole heap of owners with him.
“It’s a massive prize money race and it’s a race we targeted for a fairly long time.
“He’s been to Adelaide, he’s come back, we thought he’d be winning at Ballarat, but he ran into a smart one, but he’s been able to hold himself nicely here and Lachie summed it up perfectly.”
Despite the wide draw, Neindorf came out into the enclosure pre-race with a plan.
“I think we were all a bit worried when the barrier draw came out, but it was a blessing in disguise in the end because we had all the three main dangers drawn inside of us,” Neindorf said.
“I wasn’t sure where they were going to be but I was confident that I would end up on the back of one of them and I was confident that my horse had a good turn of foot and the extra rise in distance was going to suit him that little bit more.
“To be honest, I probably still let him go a little bit early. I probably could have straightened up and held onto him for an extra 50 metres before putting him through his gears because, jeez, he got there fast, but full credit to the runner-up, it was tough.
“I was really worried the last 50 (metres) that she was going to come back and almost get me on the line again.”
