SNEAK PREVIEW UPSTAGES RIVALS AT LONG ODDS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, August 20, 2022

It is reasonably rare for trainer David Vandyke to send two runners out in the same race … and even more rare that they both start at double figure odds … but he did that with Sneak Preview ($14) and Bargannon ($12) in a BM80 Handicap over 1600m at Doomben on August 20 where the stable produced a first and third place result.
It was Sneak Preview who prevailed to claim the eighth win of his career.

Ridden with some aplomb by Stephanie Thornton, Sneak Preview went back early to race some eight to nine lengths off the lead as the $31 outsider Fort Wayne took the field down the back stretch.

Sneak Preview was still third last in the ten horse field, but now only five lengths back as Fort Wayne brought the field to the home turn, where Thornton had to steer the son of Smart Missile all of seven wide early in the straight to find clear running.

Now it would all be up to the finishing effort he could muster … and he ‘nailed’ that, going smoothly through his gears to range up quickly to challenge for the honours.

By the 150m mark Sneak Preview was within three lengths of the lead and closing fast on the line of horses ahead of him. Just inside the 100m Sneak Preview had joined a line of five horses stretched across the track … including his stable companion Bargonnon … but momentum now was his biggest ally and Sneak Preview swept past his rivals with some authority … leaving them no time to recover as he went on to win by a tidy one length margin.

Bargannon, who was looking for back-to-back wins here after also being a winner at double figure odds for the Vandyke stable in his previous start, earned a creditable third place after being up close to the speed throughout the race, after being caught wide on the turn and then kicking on well enough in the straight.

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