SLOW HANDS ROMPS HOME IN THE LAST AT EAGLE FARM

By Graham Potter | Sunday, March 21, 2021

Jockey Brad Stewart book-ended the Eagle Farm meeting and trainer Kelly Schweida went home with a double of his own after the big grey Slow Hands romped home in the last race on the card.

Slow Hands was third-up after a spell and his second-up run, in which he only finished 1.75 lengths off the winner, gave some notice of things to come and the son of Reliable Man certainly made good on that promise with a sterling effort here.

Slow Hands was not involved in a three-way battle for the lead between Word For Word, The Dark and Bonaparte inside the final 200m (they would ultimately finish second, third and fourth respectively) but he was able to produce race winning acceleration from behind which brushed all challenges aside when it mattered most.

“Everything went to plan today,” said Schweida. “There wasn’t a lot of speed on.

“Last time he was really good when Steph Thornton rode him. He got back from a bad alley and finished well.

‘Two runs before that there was a bit of trainer error. I put of bit of gear on his head, and he didn’t like it. He is a big boy, but he is like a mouse really.

“It was gun ride from Brad. He’s been on him now for two wins from two rides.”

Brad Stewart added his view.

“It was a bugger of a race really,” offered Stewart. “There was just a lack of pace.

“He is generally a pretty good ride. He did want to tug a little bit today at a couple of points in the race.

“I was able to go about three deep at about the 550m. He is a big horse and I was able to get him to the outside then and he finished off beautifully.”

From the Stewards' Report

SLOW HANDS (NZ) – Near the 1200m commenced to over raced. Lost the use of his whip shortly after passing the 250m. A post-race veterinary examination identified lacerations to the near hind leg.

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