Ultra-honest 3YO gelding Crime Writer out-toughed the opposition to capture the Alabar Horsham Classic on Thursday afternoon for Ecklin South horseman Matty Craven and Carrum Downs owners Tony and Pam Coniglio.
Craven drove the son of Sportswriter and Our Crime Of Passion like he was the best horse in the race and so it proved as the $1.30 favourite bought up his fifth career victory.
"He's the sort of horse you wish you had a stable full of," said Craven as he accepted the trophies from Alabar General Manager Brett Coffey. "While a step below the really good ones, he's made both Vicbred Finals for two and three-year-olds and hopefully we can get through to the Breeders Crown Final in a few weeks."
Drawn the extreme outside of the second line in the field of 11, Craven was content to drop to the back of the bunch until the leaders sorted themselves out and backed off the tempo. With a mile to go Craven made his move and worked Crime Writer forward to race outside the leader, Luverboy (Kerryn Manning), for the last 1200 metres of the contest.
Craven put the pressure on at the 400-metre mark and Crime Writer, with his head down in trademark fashion, dashed home in 27.5 seconds to score by four metres from the gallant Luverboy with Hugo Rocks (Alex Ashwood) finishing the race off nicely to claim third money.
Crime Writer's record of five wins, five minor placings and a bank of $76,310 from 22 starts represents a whole lot of joy for his connections – with his biggest paydays being $17,400 when fourth in the 2YO Breeders Crown Final and $10,000 for fourth place in the Group 1 Victoria Derby Final back in January.
Coffey also presented Craven with a service certificate to Auckland Reactor to pass on to the winning owners of the inaugural Alabar Horsham Classic.
"Pam and Tony have a few nice mares and I'm sure they'll pick one out and make use of this," Craven said. "So it's a big thankyou to Alabar, they put a lot back into all levels of our industry."
Tony Logan