He was the second-longest priced runner in the $140,000 Listed Razor Sharp field, but the Kris Lees-trained Special Reward ($26) has paid no attention to the market and saluted handsomely beating favourite Snap Dancer ($3.50F) by half a length with the unlucky Southern Lad ($7) a further two lengths away in third.
After settling in the back half of the field, the Demerit gelding got off the fence upon turning and unleashed one final withering burst down the famous Randwick straight to win going away from them.
Lees was full of praise for the steer by Glyn Schofield, who had piloted him last time out when eighth in the recent running of the $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
“Really good ride from Glyn,” Lees said.
“He’s got a stack of ability, he always has, but he’s been out of the winner’s circle for a long time and I stressed today to try and not expose him until he really had to.
“He had a lapful of horse coming to the corner, so he didn’t have too long to think about it.”
Despite the long odds Lees wasn’t too shocked by the turnaround in performances.
“I was really pleased with his first two runs, and we used our gate possibly a little too much in the Hunter,” Lees said.
“That was a lot better field than today so a little drop back in grade, and he’s starting to get back to his right weight and was able to get back to form.
The improved effort was also no surprise to jockey Schofield, who knew what the six-year-old had in the tank.
“You look back on this horse’s form and when he wants to run he can perform,” Schofield said.
“He was in that frame of mind today and I could actually feel it on the way down to the barriers, as opposed to the last time at Newcastle.
“I just sort of coaxed him and I didn’t want to produce him too early because I didn’t want him to think too much. It just worked out to plan.”
