So You Think was expected to get the winner of the Group III VRC Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday with race favourite Pungo all the rage, but at the 100m mark it was another So You Think colt that arrived on the scene with Perfect Thought powering to victory in the colours carried by his sire.
Trained by John Sargent, Perfect Thought had a look at Flemington last season when finishing fourth on debut in the Listed VRC Anzac Day Stakes and was then sent for a spell.
Heavy tracks have hampered his progress this spring, but Perfect Thought got his maiden out of the way at Kembla in late August and connections elected to keep the faith and push on to the Carbine Club on trust.
Magnificent in the yard, Perfect Thought ran up to his appearance under a cool ride from Craig Williams, surging home with a powerful run to win by two lengths
“He’s a bit of a quirky colt, so we changed all his gear and he had nothing on him today… he’s always showed so much potential at home on the track, so we’ve always rated him to the connections and today he showed he is a good horse,” said John Sargent.
“The Carbine is a good race to win and good horses come out of it and let’s hope he gets stronger over the break he has now for six weeks and come back and have a great autumn I think.”
With two wins from six starts and prizemoney in excess of $340,000, Perfect Thought was a $120,000 Magic Millions purchase from the Tyreel Stud draft for DGR Thoroughbreds and runs for an ownership group headed by Think Big Stud.
Bred in partnership by Tyreel Stud, Perfect Thought is the best of two winners from Perfectly Safe, a metro winning Exceed and Excel mare from unraced Sadler’s Wells mare Refuge (IRE), who comes from a family packed with European staying stakes-winners.
Perfectly Safe missed in the two seasons after producing Perfect Thought, but has foaled this spring producing a colt by All Too Hard.
Perfect Thought is the 46th stakes-winner for So You Think and is his first from a daughter of Exceed and Excel.
