Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Smart American Ideal four-year-old Soho Dow Jones will continue racing in stands after impressing with a powerful frontrunning display in the Xmas In July Handicap, a 2503m stand at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Soho Dow Jones, trained by Kim Prentice and driven by Mitch Miller, was a runaway winner in a mobile event at his previous outing, but was a major disappointment two starts before that when, as an odds-on favourite, he ruined his chances by beginning badly in a stand at Bunbury and finishing fifth behind Extraordinary.
“I wasn’t super confident tonight,” said Miller. “I thought we could beat Otis (a brilliant first-up winner in a stand two weeks earlier) as long as Soho Dow Jones got away safely. That was the biggest worry.
“However, he stepped good, which was the main thing. We know he has the ability but sometimes he doesn’t bring it to the races.”
Soho Dow Jones, the $3.50 second favourite, burst straight to the front from barrier two and he set a brisk pace before winning by a half-length from $12 chance Beat the Bank, who ran home strongly after trailing the leader all the way.
Otis, the $1.95 favourite, was a fading third. He began from the 10m mark and settled in tenth place in the field of eleven before Dylan Egerton-Green dashed him forward to move to the breeze in the first lap.
Soho Dow Jones has resumed after a spell in fine fettle, and he has earned $87,196 from ten wins and eight placings from 27 starts.