The first official winner for the new training partnership of Stuart and Bayley Kendrick proved to be a precious metropolitan one.
Just Precious gave the father-and-son team their maiden success at Eagle Farm on Saturday (October 3).
Ridden by apprentice Ryan Houston, Just Precious ($5) overcame a slow start to win the Benchmark 85 Handicap (1200m), scoring by a half-length at her second run back from a spell.
After stumbling as the gates opened, the mare quickly recovered and made full use of an inside draw to settle in a favourable position before finishing strongly to continue her impressive preparation.
While veteran trainer Stuart Kendrick was on hand to celebrate, it was Bayley Kendrick who eagerly took centre stage after the race, good-naturedly hip-and-shouldering his father aside to handle the post-race interview duties.
“We ran a couple of close seconds yesterday, but we’ll take today,” Bayley Kendrick said.
Houston kept a cool head after the tardy start and “put her where we wanted her”, he said.
“She’s shown us plenty of ability and this prep has just been faultless so far. Her work improved off her first-up win, so we were pretty confident coming into today.
“We’ll just keep stepping her up in grade and see where she gets to.
“But what she’s doing at home and what she’s doing on the racetrack, we don’t know yet.”
For the Kendricks, the win marked an important milestone after officially launching their training partnership recently, although the move had been planned long before the paperwork was completed.
“It was always the plan,” Bayley Kendrick said.
“We tried to do it from the start of the season, but we were a bit slow off the mark. It’s been in the works for a while,” he said.