Bendigo galloper shocks Caulfield rivals with impressive victory

The rising five-year-old thrashed his rivals in Saturday's 1400m benchmark 78 at Caulfield.

The two-and-a-half length victory was even more impressive considering the track had been downgraded to a soft seven, Here To Shock started from the inside barrier and the inner parts of the track were not the place to be.

"He was a class above them,'' Stanley said.

"He'd improved quite a lot fitness wise since his last run, so I was quietly confident he'd go well.

"As it turned out, everything went wrong (in terms of track conditions and barrier), but he still won convincingly."

Here To Shock was given a good ride by apprentice jockey Tatum Bull, who celebrated her first Saturday metropolitan win.

"Very happy to get it,'' she said.

"Nothing went to plan, but this horse is a serious horse, so it was a privilege to ride him because it will be interesting to see where he ends up.

"I didn't want to go back to the inside on him, but when I had a wall of horses in front of me, and none of them were going anywhere, I had to push the button on him."

Here To Shock, who raced at Group One level as a three-year-old, has now won four times from just 13 career starts.

Stanley said Here To Shock had the talent to compete in better races.

"He'll go to a benchmark 84 over 1600m at Flemington in a couple of weeks time,'' Stanley said.

"He's by Shocking, who won a Melbourne Cup, so he's bred to stay. I think he'll get further than 1600m.

"The further he goes the better he'll go.

"He's only lightly-raced, so I think he'll go to another level.

"The penny is starting to drop with him. I'd like to see him win well next start and then we could pick out a couple of nice races for him in the spring."

Stanley said Here To Shock would be even better suited when the tracks dry out.

"I have no doubt he's better on top of the ground,'' Stanley said.

"He's run well on heavy tracks and I reckon the track was heavy at Caulfield on Saturday, but I think once we get him on a good four or a soft five track that he'll improve even more."