The Hawkes Racing-trained Dirty Work was too tough late for the in-form mare Diamond Effort with the duo running one-two as equal favourites in the 2020 Schillaci Stakes at Caulfield.

Dirty Work was too good late in the 2020 Schillaci Stakes results in Melbourne. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

A wide draw and a luckless early run after being slow out the barriers in Saturday’s Group 2 $300,000 Schillaci Stakes (1100m) wasn’t enough to stop the stud-bound Dirty Work in the weight-for-age sprint.

The ‘Wizard of the West’ William Pike gave the now very valuable Written Tycoon entire a perfectly-timed run with the four-year-old too strong late in a gallant performance.

“They gave Willie Pike and the horse the visitors’ run that’s for sure,” co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said.

“He was four deep last and I thought ‘he’s going to have to dig deep’. It was certainly centimetre perfect.

“This bloke’s certainly got a home at stud now.

“It’s a good result.”

Clinton McDonald’s Mossman mare Diamond Effort, ridden by Mark Zahra, pounced on the lead coming into the turn, while Dirty Work had a lot to do at the top of the straight.

Pike had to be patient at the back of the field led around by expected front-runner Splintex, but got the job done in the last 50 metres as his mount flashed home in a wonderful late burst during his final prep before heading to stud.

“I didn’t have many options,” Pike told the media post-race talking about settling back in the field.

“I jumped only fair. We just stayed in lanes and I didn’t want to be four-wide without cover.”

Dirty Work may have been further back than expected, but the horse enjoyed an uninterrupted run and found the line at the right time to atone for a luckless last start fourth in Sydney’s Group 2 The Shorts (1100m) behind Classique Legend.

Driving through, Dirty Work just beat Diamond Effort in a close finish with Octane running third to round out the Schillaci Stakes results.

“It was a pretty good effort,” Pike said.

“He was tough right through the line.

“It’s very tempting to get going and do something real clever, but this one has to go to Tommy Berry’s credit, he said ‘you’ve got an amazing 250 (metres with this horse) so save him for it’, so I kept that in the back of my mind.”

It was a big win by the entire who stormed over the top of a quality field to win the Group 2, but Hawkes wasn’t engaging in any talk about Dirty Work potentially filling the final Chris Waller Racing slot in Saturday week’s $15 million The Everest (1200m) at Randwick.

“When’s that? Next week is it. Is that a Sydney race? I’m from Victoria mate,” he said.

Despite Hawkes’ comments, Dirty Work remains in the all-in 2020 The Everest odds online at $26 through Ladbrokes.com.au available in full here.

2020 Schillaci Stakes Results

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	8	DIRTY WORK	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	William Pike		7	58.5kg		$4.20
	2	10	DIAMOND EFFORT	Clinton McDonald	Mark Zahra	0.1L	6	56.5kg		$4F
	3	7	OCTANE	Phillip Stokes	Jamie Kah	0.3L	4	58.5kg		$13
	4	1	HEY DOC	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Luke Currie	0.8L	5	58.5kg		$5.50
	5	3	SPLINTEX	Mark Newnham	Hugh Bowman	1L	1	58.5kg		$5.50
	6	6	BOLD STAR	Gordon Richards	Craig Williams	1.75L	3	58.5kg		$8.50
	7	4	ORDER OF COMMAND	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	3.5L	2	58.5kg		$11
		5	WILLIAM THOMAS	John Price	Michael Dee		0
		9	ALFA ORO (NZ)	Matt Laurie	Damian Lane		0
		2	JUNGLE EDGE	Mick Bell	Ms Jade Darose		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.