Sledmere Stud sales graduate Dirty Work registered the biggest win of his flourishing career when scoring a last-to-first victory in the prestigious Group 2 MRC McCafé Schillaci Stakes (1100m) on Saturday’s feature Caulfield program in Melbourne.
Assigned the coveted Victorian sprint event after two very respectable efforts in Sydney behind The Everest principals Gytrash and Classique Legend, Dirty Work received a very cold ride by William Pike in the seven-horse field and was a clear last entering the short Caulfield straight.
The valuable 4-year-old entire then proceeded to rapidly overhaul all of his rivals over the closing stages, ultimately passing Diamond Effort close to the line to score by a short head.
Speaking after the win, co-trainer Wayne Hawkes observed: “They gave the horse and Willie Pike the visitors run, that’s for sure.
“He was four-deep last and he had to go back and get in. They were scooting around the corner and they didn’t go overly hard, so I thought that he’d have to dig deep. But it was certainly centimetre-perfect, wasn’t it.”
Hawkes added: “He’s a stallion now … He’s a belting looking horse with a beautiful, beautiful attitude and it’s a good result for [owners] Spendthrift.”
One of four brilliant winning rides by William Pike on the day, the Western Australia-based hoop said that Dirty Work’s regular partner Tommy Berry played his part in the important Pattern Race win.
Pike said: “It is tempting to get going and do something clever, but I have to give Tommy Berry credit for this one. I spoke to him and he said he’s got an amazing 250 [metre] sprint, so save him for it. So I did keep that in the back of my mind.”
Dirty Work ran 1m03.34s in winning the 1100-metre feature, the last 600 metres of the contest being clocked as 32.93s. As the son of Written Tycoon came from last in the field, his actual 600m sectional was timed as 33.50s, while he was also clocked as traveling at 69.6 km/m at the peak stage of his finishing burst.
Dirty Work is raced by Spendthrift Australia Pty Ltd and has now won five of his 16 career starts for $420,200 in earnings. In addition to his Group 2 Schillaci Stakes victory, his wins also include the Listed Ortensia Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens.
The Group 2 success of Dirty Work follows quickly on the heels of a Group 2 hat-trick recorded by fellow Sledmere Stud sales graduate Dame Giselle during the 3-year-old filly’s outstanding Sydney Spring campaign.