Saab Hasan’s spritely eight-year-old gelding Sirius Suspect showed the opposition a clean pair of heels in Saturday’s $200,000 Group III Aurie's Star Handicap (1200m) at Flemington.
The straight track specialist travelled sweetly for Ethan Brown as the 7-horse field came down the grandstand side.
The son of Wanted found the line strongly to defeat the solid finishing Stageman (Written Tycoon) by a length and a quarter with Shooting For Gold (Shooting To Win) a half-length back in third.
The winner of the 2021 Group III VRC Standish Handicap, Sirius Suspect came off a win in the Listed VRC Santa Ana Lane Final over the same track and distance.
A homebred for Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock’s Darren Dance and partners, Sirius Suspect advances his record to ten wins, five seconds and six thirds from 39 starts with earnings of $859,250.
Saab Hasan said the veteran sprinter means the world for the stable.
“This horse has kept us in the circuit,” Hasan said.
“The team have struggled since moving to Tabilk. My partner and I had a little girl and we moved up there and we have been trading water.
“I could not train this horse in the metropolitan area. He was a very hot horse and moving to Tabilk has made all the difference in the world. He is an 8yo getting better.
“ATB (Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock) and the owners made a big call to give him to us.
“He means everything, I was probably more nervous today than the Newmarket because I felt the track may have been too sticky for him.”
Sirius Suspect is the best of four winners from five to race out of the Galileo (IRE) mare Sirius Miss, a $120,000 purchase at the 2006 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Sirius Miss died in May last year. Her final foal is the unraced Press Statement filly Sirius Statement who is in training with Hasan.
Sirius Suspect is one of five stakes-winner for Clear Mountain Fairview’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap winner Wanted who stands at a fee of $5,500.
