The Dominator turns back the clock with dominant display

It was only a Benchmark 58 on the flat on a cold Tuesday in Murtoa earlier this week, but there was a sign that The Dominator had found his mojo again as he stuck on gamely to finish sixth behind Caliburn.

It was exactly what Henry wanted to see after a lacklustre few months from his star eight-year-old jumper, where a few setbacks had to be endured and patience was required.

After pulling up well at Murtoa, Henry noticed The Dominator looked as well as he had ever looked while down at the beach and his quiet confidence was repaid today with a dominant display to take out the
Ecycle Solutions Bm120 Steeplechase at Pakenham.

Ridden perfectly by Tom Sadler who does all his work in training and knows him backwards, The Dominator took his customary position out front with a 15 length lead on the main pack down the back straight. While the last two jumps were heart in mouth stuff with the chasing pack closing and a strong tail wind behind him, there was nothing to worry about as The Dominator strode to victory by five lengths over favourite Flying Agent, with Sadler punching the air with joy.

“He was super impressive today,” said Sadler.

“It was hard enough to lead today with a very strong head wind down the back, but with him being quite positive and forward in all of his races, I didn’t want to be trying to overcomplicate things and wanted to just keep him happy.”

“He jumped faultlessly and was clever when he needed to be clever… Henry has him going great and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do at Sandown,” said Sadler.

“It’s really satisfying to have him back, that’s as good as a performance he has put in for the last couple of years,” said Henry.

“Tom rode him beautifully today… he had him in a beautiful rhythm and he wasn’t overdoing it at all, he’s a really mature horse mentally and his jumping was brilliant”.

“The pleasing aspect was how well he pulled up after the race, he wouldn’t have blown a candle out and that’s his greatest attribute, just how clean winded he is,” said Henry.

“We will keep doing what we are doing with him and look onwards to Sandown in a couple of weeks.”