With the race set up to be a race between two gun three-year-olds in the Sunlight Classic, and the colt What You Need from the Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr yard got the better of the filly Benedetta as she could only manage a third-place finish, with the Godolphin gelding Renosu splitting the two favourites in the betting.
Coming into the Sunlight Classic, What You Need was the favourite with online bookmakers and the unbeaten colt stayed rock solid at the top of the market up until the jump, where he jumped as a $2.25 favourite.
The son of Supido has been dominant at his first two starts, winning by an average of 3.5 lengths, and even though his win in the Sunlight Classic was by one length, Ben Melham was soft on him in the final 50m as he clocked off in the concluding stages.
Now that he has kept his unbeaten record intact, the sky looks the limit for this colt, with the potential for him to go to the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint in Sydney next.
2023 Sunlight Classic Replay – What You Need
With another good sprinter on their hands, Michael Kent Jnr spoke post-race about the win of their very smart colt.
“He's a very good horse,” Kent Jnr said.
“It worked out well, I was happy they came down the middle of the track, it meant Ben (Melham) was in control of the race.
“He's still working it all out, it was only his third start in a race and I thought his action was a little bit awkward.
“All going well, two weeks to the Arrowfield (Sprint), that'll be a very good race, Group 2 worth $1 million, so that probably carries a fair bit of weight for a stud prospect.”
Ben Melham has ridden a double on Australian Cup Day after his win on What You Need, and he spoke post-race about the win.
“He's lightly raced but he's a topline colt, I've got no doubt about that,” Melham said.
“He's had his issues getting here, the Price team have done a good job, and he had that race in his keeping a long way out.
“I was just mindful of the steps ahead in his preparation and he won that race pretty well, but I never pulled the whip on him and he should pull up clean and improve off the back of that.
“He'll bounce out of this run and I just expect him to keep improving off the back of this.”
What You Need is now the $3.50 favourite in the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint futures market with online betting sites.