Southern Legend To The Paddock After The Sebring Win

Southern Legend will head to the spelling paddock after he recorded the biggest win of his racing career to date in The Sebring at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon.

Southern Legend finished over the top of Egyptian Symbol to take out the The Sebring. Photo by: Steve Hart

Southern Legend finished over the top of Egyptian Symbol to take out the The Sebring. Photo by: Steve Hart

Southern Legend was facing the toughest test of his career, but he was well-backed in the lead-up to the race following his impressive victories in the Bowermans Office Furniture Maiden (1100m) at Warwick Farm on February 10 and the Mark Eaves Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on February 24.

The Not A Single Doubt gelding sweated up badly in the minutes leading up to The Sebring, but it didn’t bother him when the race jumped and he outfought Egyptian Symbol and Denmagic to score a tough win.

Clark has now recorded three wins from as many rides on Southern Legend and he said after the race that he was delighted to be able to win such a big race for trainer Les Bridge.

“He has a great will to win and I think that we saw that today,” Clark said.

“It was a big step-up for him today and there were some pretty decent three-year-olds in the race, but he was too good for them.

“I am really proud of him, he has come a long way and it is good to ride a winner for Les on a big day like today.

“He is still a little bit immature and we saw that pre-race – he gets himself a beat warm.

“Even though he has only had three runs, he has been up for a long time and he was ready to go about a month before he actually had his first start.”

There were rumours that Southern Legend was set to be sold to Hong Kong following his impressive win at Rosehill Gardens on February 24, but at this stage the three-year-old is set to remain in Australia.

Bridge said that Southern Legend will head for a stint in the spelling paddock, but he is confident that the gelding has a big race in him when he returns to the races.

“I get one every couple of years and it has kept me going for 50 years,” Bridge said.

“He just keeps raising the bar and he is going to have a spell now.

“I can visualise him winning a really nice race later.

“He has been up for about six months and we will pick out a nice race for him when he comes back.”

Egyptian Symbol produced a typically strong performance to finish second and was only beaten by a better horse on the day, while Denmagic was almost able to score a boil over at big odds.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.