Michael Poy made the most of a race devoid of speed with a well-judged front running ride aboard Skelm at Flemington.
Taken to the front leaving the straight in the Schweppervescence Handicap on Saturday, Skelm ran out the 2600m journey comfortably to record a soft win.
Quickening the pace from the 800m mark, Skelm ($4.80) registered a three-length win from the $4.20 favourite High Emocean with Future Score ($8) 4-¼ lengths away third.
Skelm started his career with Godolphin, firstly with John O’Shea and then James Cummings but was sold before he had raced.
The son of Animal Kingdon has now won six of his 39 starts for Coghills Creek (near Ballarat) trainer Terry Kelly with Saturday’s success taking his prize money to more than $450,000.
Kelly said Skelm was ridden “upside down” from his normal pattern.
“He’s an unbelievable animal. What he’s done here today is way out of character,” Kelly said.
“I don’t know how I’m going to answer to the stewards, but I think the young fella, to his credit, has made a very wise decision when there was no pace on to let him roll and the horse was full of running in the end.
“It turned out to be a very good move.”
Skelm came from well back when fifth in the Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m) on November 27 and Poy said his only instruction from the stable was to be more positive.
“When there was no speed, I thought I’m going to take this up,” Poy said.
“The horse came back under me good, they went very steady early and I ramped it up at the 800 (metre mark) and probably got a few of them off the bit.
“Credit to my horse. He was tough late and never felt like he was going to be beaten.”
