Mornington trainer Matt Laurie may consider a late 2020 Coolmore Stud Stakes entry for his progressive colt Portland Sky after the horse’s terrific Cox Plate Day effort to win the Group 3 $200,000 Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) at The Valley.

Portland Sky was ultra-impressive winning the Red Anchor Stakes on Cox Plate Day. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Jockey Ben Melham enjoyed a second success in the Moonee Valley sprint for three-year-olds having won back in 2013 aboard the Peter Moody-trained Thermal Current, and was happy to do so for Laurie who he described as a talented and underrated trainer.

Despite a rain-affected track, Melham was happy to use the inside draw aboard the Deep Field colt Portland Sky who was fast out the gates to secure an easy lead up front.

Forcing the rest of the field to do the chasing, the leader settled beautifully and was far too good leading from barrier to box in a stylish effort.

On the line Portland Sky ($4.60) held a three-quarter margin over the beaten favourite Bella Nipotina ($3.80) for Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes, the Pride Of Dubai filly doing well to finish second after being posted three wide during her on-speed run.

In third to round out the Red Anchor Stakes trifecta was the Godolphin-raced son of Street Boss Valaquenta ($5) who was also strong to the line in an improved run.

“He’s a lovely colt, he did a good job to win, he’s got good gate speed,” winning hoop Melham said post-race.

“He’s really been looking for the 1200.

“A good solid performance by the colt.

“I was happy to stay on the fence in this race…proved it wasn’t any disadvantage.

“Good to finally see him with a stakes’ result on the board.”

Adding further merit to the victory was the fact Portland Sky was nearly a race day scratching with Laurie concerned about the Soft-rated track and still convinced the horse is far better on top of the ground.

“I felt like he’s a group horse and we’re going to strike a wet track at some point,” he said of his decision to run the horse in the end.

“I still don’t actually think he handled it to be honest, so very good to get the win.”

Laurie has always had a high opinion of his now stakes-winner Portland Sky and hadn’t ruled out a late nomination for the up-and-comer in Flemington’s Group 1 $1.5 million Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) Saturday week on Derby Day.

“He always felt like a quality horse,” he said.

“Throughout this preparation he’s just continued to improve and I think he’s just going to keep doing that. We’ve got a really good horse.

“We’re not nominated (for the Coolmore) but we’ll certainly see how he pulls up. We’re very mindful it’s his first preparation and we want to look after him.

“It may not be the right thing (to run him), but if he’s jumping out of his skin, you never know.”

Click here for the latest all-in 2020 Coolmore Stud Stakes odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 Red Anchor Stakes Results

	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	5	PORTLAND SKY	Matt Laurie	Ben Melham		1	57kg		$4.60
	2	7	BELLA NIPOTINA	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Michael Rodd	0.75L	6	56.5kg		$3.80F
	3	1	VALAQUENTA	James Cummings	Mark Zahra	1.75L	9	57kg		$5
	4	8	MILDRED	Grahame Begg	Jordan Childs	1.95L	3	56.5kg		$10
	5	2	FREE TO MOVE	Ken & Kasey Keys	Luke Currie	4.2L	7	57kg		$8
	6	3	ROCK THE RING	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Jamie Mott	6.2L	5	57kg		$10
	7	9	TARCOOLA DIVA	Gemma Rielly	Joe Bowditch	6.3L	2	55kg		$26
	8	4	ICE ICE BABY	Wendy Kelly	Jamie Kah	6.8L	4	57kg		$9
	9	6	RHODE SCHOLAR	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Michael Walker	11.05L	8	57kg		$41

Table Credit: Racing Australia.