It was almost a case of ‘I told you so’ from the Snowden camp tonight after Sepoy dominated the Manikato Stakes field to win in a canter.

It was far from a wire to wire win though after he slightly missed the jump and found himself back towards the tail of the field.

Jockey Kerrin McEvoy worked quickly to move up along the inside rail to hold his position and they locked into a battle with Buffering.

Neither wanted to relent before Buffering was finally eased up to settle on the outside with both horses having put in a mountain of work.

From there though it was sheer dominance from Sepoy as he pulled clear at the top of the straight and only lengthened the margin as they hit the line.

Stable rep Paul Snowden said it was exciting to see but far from surprising.

“We love to talk him up as much as we can but we’ve just got to let him do the talking, what else can we say,” he said.

“Just biting our tongue all week, everyone was pumping their horse up but we knew how good our horse was and we knew where we had him.”

He says the wet track was never a serious concern despite that being the site of the horses only loss to date.

“He only got beaten half a length on the rain affected track and he was a bit under done,” he said.

His sentiments were shared by his father and head Darley trainer Peter who was left almost in awe at the way he claimed victory tonight.

“He’s a great horse and I’m very lucky to have him,” he said.

“He had to do it the hard way and he showed just how good he is.”

For those thinking this might entice them into a battle with Black Caviar in the Patinack Farm Classic don’t get too excited, the Coolmore remains the end of prep aim.

“For me the reason I’ve always said Coolmore is because that’s his own age,” he said.

“For me that’d be the icing, not beating Black Caviar.”

Manikato Stakes 2011 Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Weight	Margin
1st	8	SEPOY(1)	Kerrin McEvoy	Peter Snowden	52.0	1-11.08
2nd	5	SISTER MADLY(5)	Craig Williams	John Sadler	56.5	2.3L
3rd	4	MORE JOYOUS(4)	Nash Rawiller	Gai Waterhouse	56.5	5.3L
4th	2	BUFFERING(3)	Damian Browne	Robert Heathcote	58.5	5.4L
5th	6	RUE MAPLE(6)	Michelle Payne	Darren Weir	56.5	7.4L
6th	3	ATOMIC FORCE(7)	Damien Oliver	Darren Smith	58.5	7.5L
7th	1	HAPPY ZERO(2)	Darren Beadman	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	58.5	8.5L
8th	7	KULGRINDA(8)	Luke Nolen	Peter G Moody	56.5	9.7L