"The big worry was whether he would handle the heavy10 track, but he had won a trial in similar ground before and I think being out wide probably helped him out.
"He's the sort of horse that likes a bit of room, so he got that and delivered.
"Andrew actually said that when he got to the front, he waited a little for them, but when he saw Hypnos coming, he knuckled down again and won it pretty well.
"It's a great result for the Wallace family after Ray passed away and we might just have had that bird on the shoulder to get that win for them."
Cooksley advised that Gino Severini would most likely head to the spelling paddock for a decent break before returning for another spring campaign next season.
The victory was win No 7 for Gino Severini, who has taken his career prizemoney to $377,653.
●Trainer Ken Rae admits it's not often a plan comes together perfectly, but that was the case today when Irish Girl proved too tough for her rivals in the Group 3 South Island Breeders' Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton.
Rae had pencilled in the Group 3 feature for his charge some time ago but planning a path to Riccarton had proved to be a challenging exercise.
"When she ran second at Ellerslie on New Zealand Derby day, I said to her owners we would go to the Cuddle Stakes [$80,000 Group 3, 1600m] at Trentham and then to this race," Rae said.
"Then they left the nominations open for a $70,000 1400m race at Ellerslie on Auckland Cup day, so I thought why not have a go at that? It was worth just less than Trentham and was closer to home.
"We changed our plans and ran second there and we could still go south to have a crack at this race.
"It turned out to be a great plan in the end, as it's not often you change things like that and they work out, but this time it has."
- NZ Racing Desk
