Malkovich hangs on giving Baker and Parr a Flemington double
Bjorn Baker and Josh Parr combined to complete a double for the day down the Flemington straight with Malkovich taking out the Listed Bob Hoysted Handicap (1000m) on Saturday afternoon.
Parr joined the majority of the field by coming down the outside section of the straight.
The Choisir entire showed good early speed before showing enough strength to narrowly hold-off a fast-finishing Brooklyn Hustle in what was a photo-finish.
Malkovich, who was coming off a fourth placing behind Marabi in the Oakleigh Plate last week, made it five wins from nine tries over the 1000m journey.
Big finish that!
Malkovich holds off the fast-finishing Brooklyn Hustle… 💨@BBakerRacing @JoshuaParr8 pic.twitter.com/47hZfC4diK
— Racing.com (@Racing) March 5, 2022
Parr was pleased with the preparation that the Warwick Farm-trained galloper had leading into the event.
“A very encouraging effort in the Oakleigh Plate last week,” he said to Racing.com in a post-race interview.
“It just set him up really nicely back to the 1000 metres.
“I do like that setup personally because it means they’re going to be very strong. You can roll along at a nice tempo and count on them being there at the back end.”
Malkovich is entered for the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington next week, but that would seem unlikely as it would require him to back-up for a third week in a row.
He has also been nominated for the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 2, where he is rated an $81 outsider with Sportsbet.