SPICY SONIC TOO HOT FOR HIS OPPOSITION TO HANDLE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 14, 2022

Trainer Michael Costa had a pretty good stable before he was lured to Dubai to become the personal trainer to Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid al Maktoum … and one of the horses which was in the Costa stable that transferred to the David Vandyke yard was the Outreach gelding, Spicy Sonic.

Spicy Sonic had only raced once for Costa, finishing second in a Maiden Plate over 1100m at Grafton back on January 23, meaning that when Spicy Sonic stepped out for his first assignment for the Vandyke stable at the Sunshine Coast in a Maiden Handicap over 1200m on August 14, he was first-up following a six-and-a-half month break from race action and having only his second career start (as a four-year-old).

The fact that Spicy Sonic did trial well on July 26, coupled with Vandyke’s ability to get horses new to his stable to perform early in the piece, saw Spicy Sonic start as favourite at $2.50 with his only real market-rival being the Tony Gollan trained Sinful Moment ($3.50) … who is a half-brother to the Golden Slipper winner, Yes Yes Yes.

With Sinful Moment never in the hunt it was left to Money Man ($7) to try and test the favourite.

Spicy Sonic and Money Man landed together at the jump with Ryan Maloney then easing Spicy Sonic into a three-quarter-length lead as the field went down the back stretch.

These two runners held station all the way through the sweep to the home turn but, on straightening, Maloney asked Spicy Sonic to kick on and the Vandyke trained runner quickly extended his advantage to just over two lengths over Money Man in the first half of the straight.

Although outgunned, Money Man kept trying and, with Maloney only pushing Spicy Sonic out hands and heels over the final 50m, Money Man did get within a length of the winner at the line without ever threatening the final result.

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