Yukaina continued his flawless start to racing with a tough and impressive victory at Sandown, making it two wins from as many starts. Sent out a well-supported $1.80 favourite, the unbeaten gelding had to do it the hard way, fiercely pressured in the first half of the race but handled the challenge with maturity well beyond his limited race experience.

Taking up the running, Yukaina led the field and ensured a solid tempo, a similar fashion to his Colac maiden, only to be challenged strongly on speed. Going almost 10lengths faster than all average benchmark to the 600m, a lot of horses would have crumbled under the pressure, but Yukaina showed admirable toughness and composure to set up a gap on his rivals coming down the hill and fight all the way to the line.

Mitch Freedman was full of praise for the youngster, “A mid-week metropolitan race at Sandown is a big step up from a Colac maiden, it was a very good effort to absorb that pressure and still be able to hold on.”

Focusing on the short-term future, Yukaina looks set for a short freshen up before targeting the back half of the autumn and winter months. Freedman said “The horse has come through the run well. In reviewing the race, he may have been empty late but we can’t underestimate the performance from a horse at his second start to show that level of grit. I think the best thing for his future is just to back off a bit, let him fill up in his condition and then continue.”

Congratulations to all connections of Yukaina – what a great thrill it has been so far!