Photo: Bruno Cannatelli
New Zealand-bred colt Grand Impact (Santono Aladdin – Serena Slam) has put himself right in contention for next month’s stallion-making race the Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) after his dominant win in the Gr.3 Blue Sapphire Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Wednesday.
The son of Satono Aladdin pinged out of the gates for jockey Ben Melham to settle outside leader Daumier. Turning for home the pack shifted to the middle of the heavy track where Grand Impact quickly found the lead and ran out a convincing 1-3/4 length victor.
The win extends his unbeaten streak to three and trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr said he really needs the addition of blinkers to fire on raceday.
“No blinkers on Grand Impact means no effort,” Price said. “He is a real raceday colt. He was very strong to the line and it’s now two-and-a-half weeks into the Coolmore.
“1200m is no trouble. He will peak in.”
Melham was pleased with what he felt under him on Wednesday but believes there is still plenty of improvement left in the colt.
“He is a nice horse from a very astute stable,” Melham said. “He had a couple of runs earlier in the spring and they didn’t hesitate to stop with him and bring him back towards the back half, and it has paid dividends now.
“He has had a couple of good trials leading in, but he is more of a raceday horse, he switches on when he gets to raceday.
“The thing I like about him is he is winning and he is still a fair way off the finished product.
“It was a big jump up In class today and he handled it quite well. It is going to be another step up in class for him in a couple of weeks. He is certainly in the right barn and I am sure he will run extremely well.”
Grand Impact was initially trained in New Zealand by Stephanie Tierney for whom he had two trials, winning over 800m at Ellerslie in January before his sale to Australia.
Grand Impact is by Satono Aladdin, a Group One-winning son of Deep Impact, who stands at Rich Hill Stud for a fee of $12,500+GST. – NZ Racing Desk
