For the first time in his career, So Si Bon has strung two wins on end with an emphatic victory at Caulfield.
Maligned throughout his career, So Si Bon followed a last-start victory at Caulfield on April 18 with success in Saturday’s Bert Bryant Handicap (1600m).
Under a patient ride from apprentice Thomas Stockdale, So Si Bon ($3.80) scored a 3-1/4 length win from Lipari ($41) with Mahamadeis ($15) a half-head away third.
So Si Bon was lining-up for his 50th start on Saturday capturing his fifth win along with a further 12 placings and almost $1.3 million in prize money.
That prize money haul makes So Si Bon the highest earner of his sire, dual Cox Plate winner So You Think.
After having his first 20 starts for former Cranbourne trainer Robbie Laing, So Si Bon was switched to the Lindsay Park stable of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig.
It was a gelding operation following his first campaign for Lindsay Park that Ben Hayes said turned around the horse’s form.
“Since being gelded he’s become one of our most consistent horses,” Hayes said.
“He’s been fantastic for the owners. They’ve been incredibly patient with him and it’s just been a matter of putting it all together.”
So Si Bon has relished the easier company that he has been racing against in recent outings.
Over the past 15 months, So Si Bon has contested 10 Group One races, from his last 18 races, including a second placed finish to Scales Of Justice in last year’s Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Hayes said while So Si Bon continues to race in the same vein of form the stable would look at the Winter Championship series at Flemington.
“He doesn’t mind the wet tracks so he’ll stay in work and we’ll try and go for three, four, five in a row,” Hayes said.
Stockdale said he had heard all the talk about So Si Bon not being genuine, but the way he performed on Saturday it showed that certainly was not the case.
“Maybe when he was a colt he wasn’t genuine but since he’s been gelded his form has been rock solid and today was his race,” Stockdale said.