Change of fortune for Lucky Sweep
Lucky Sweep turned his form around with a hollow win at Matamata.
The five-year-old went from zero to hero when he produced a strong finishing run to score for the fifth time in his career with victory in Saturday’s Kirsty Cashmore Bayleys Real Estate Handicap (1600m).
Lucky Sweep had failed to beat a runner home at his previous appearance at Ellerslie where he was hemmed in and never got a clear opportunity in the run home.
“He was pretty unlucky and I wasn’t able to let his head go,” regular rider Sam Spratt said. A repeat was never on the cards at Matamata and Lucky Sweep raced one off the fence toward the back of the field before improving 600m from home.
The son of Alamosa swung wide into the straight and finished resolutely to down the favourite Smart Dragon and the Taranaki visitor Neverstopdreaming.
“I kept him out in the open and he hit the line strongly, he’s a nice horse,” Spratt said.
Lucky Sweep is trained by Stephen McKee, whose father Trevor features in the ownership, who was in Sydney on Saturday with his Group 1-winning mare Consensus.