Co-trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are celebrating back-to-back wins in their home cup after their four-year-old gelding Sabaj scored an emphatic victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Listed Ladbrokes Cranbourne Cup (1600m).
Just 12 months after Globe saluted on his home track at Cranbourne – before progressing to Group 1 glory – the son of Manhattan Rain/Bouzy is also showing signs of meeting the needs of the highest levels in racing.
The Cranbourne Cup win was Sabaj’s fifth win from just eight career starts; with Beau Mertens giving the middle-distance prospect a peach of a ride from barrier 12.
Mertens settled back three wide of a solid tempo, and kept clear air throughout, giving the best horse in the race the ideal opportunity to showcase his talents in the straight.
Sabaj picked up race-leader Warnie 100 metres from home, before holding off Enxuto and Holymanz to make it a Cranbourne-trained trifecta.
Price was full of praise for Sabaj; the new kid on the block and a potential stable star.
“We’ve got the autumn here in front of us with this horse if we want,” Price explained post-race.
“This is sort of a brand new horse.
“He’s perfectly sound, feet, knees, fetlock, lovely.
“He’s lightly raced with good ability.
“He’s clean winded and I think if we look after him he will be fine.
“I’m not saying he’s a tough horse, that’s not how we treat him, but I think we’re gelling with him and if we treat him right we can have a lovely horse in the autumn and we can chase a good race.”
Price said he and Kent Jnr were keen to learn more about Sabaj, given his rapid rise to prominence.
“Probably his work and what he copes with,” Price said.
“That’s the difficult part about training…when do you gel and when don’t you.
“I train enough losers to know (when) I’m not gelling with them, but I just feel with some horses we gel with them and with him, we’ve got his work right.
“We don’t overdo him and he’s clean winded and I think he appreciates that way of doing things.”
Price also praised Mertens for his ride; riding Sabaj like the best horse in the race from a wide draw.
“He did and sometimes outside gates is when you ride them cold,” he said.
“That’s good and it worked out well.
“There was just enough tempo; he balanced up nicely, he relaxed nicely and he finished off strongly. “I did say to him (Mertens), be the deepest horse.
“Don’t follow anything into the race because I wasn’t confident there was a horse where we would be.
“I don’t need to be tempted because he should have some sort of rating now to have a nice horse in the autumn.”
Mertens, who learned his craft at Cranbourne, was thrilled to salute on the biggest day on the local racing calendar.
“It’s unbelievable; I didn’t think it would hit me as hard as it has,” Mertens said with emotion.
“I was apprenticed to Michael Kent here throughout my years at Cranbourne and now I have an association with Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr.
“Mick Price has been a big part of my career for a very long time and we’ve had a great connection and a great association.
“It’s fantastic to deliver in such a fantastic race.”
Mertens said that the race went pretty much according to plan.
“I don’t think it could have worked out any better from the barrier we had,” he said.
“He’s not fast out of the machines and I just let him naturally travel in a position he was comfortable in.
“We ended up on the back of Steparty in the three-wide line.
“I got dragged into the race where I didn’t have to do too much work and when I popped him out, he accelerated that quickly underneath me.
“He feels like a very, very nice horse and he put the race away very quick.”
Mertens feels the sky is the limit with Sabaj.
“The ceiling is the limit on the feeling he gave me today,” he said.
“I’ve done a bit of trackwork on him, but today, on the feeling, he’s a very nice horse and he’s going to get better and better.”
Sabaj had punters cheering; starting a $3.30 favourite after an impressive win at Flemington on Champions Day.
