Aaron Bain Racing | Aaron Bain News 65927 Stockmans Choice

A late change of mind proved a winning decision with Stockman’s Choice scoring at Monday’s Labor Day meeting of the Gawler & Barossa Jockey Club.

Stockman’s Choice ($4) finished best to grab a neck victory in the Holdfast Insurance Brokers Maiden (1100m) from Madam Moneybags which had been sensationally backed from as much as $12 to start the $3 favourite. Brave Fortune ($7) was a half-length away third.

Apart from the $12,500 first prize, connections also collected an additional $8360 from the Racing Rewards bonus scheme.

The winner, a four-year-old gelding having just his third race start, is trained by Aaron Bain & Ned Taylor and was ridden by Jackson Murphy.

Bain revealed the decision to run at Gawler had only been made at 7am on Monday.

“When Ned (Taylor), myself and Will (Racing Manager Will O’Malley) spoke on Sunday we thought the best option was to head to Mildura where we had accepted for a race on Tuesday,” Bain said.

“However, when we woke on Monday and saw three scratchings from Gawler, our minds changed and we came here – for once we got it right.”

Stockman’s Choice showed promise at his first two runs late last year which both resulted in fourths and indications were that he had improved with a good break.

Bain said it had been a perfect ride by jockey Jackson Murphy.

“Jacko stayed off the fence and got the perfect spot one-one,” Bain said.

“He got out at the right time and hit the line full of running.

“It was good to see the horse sharp enough to win at 1100 metres.

“He will take plenty of improvement from that and as we step him out in trip will continue to improve.

“I’m sure wherever we head he will be competitive.”

Winning jockey Jackson Murphy believes Stockman’s Choice is a promising galloper.

“He was really good today,” Murphy said.

“He was a bit ‘antsy’ in the gates but jumped well and I was able to get a bit of cover.

“I was a bit worried in the run as they had gone a bit steady because he is a horse that needs to find his gears and get rolling, but he wound up late and got over the top of them.

“It wasn’t until the last 200 metres that I was confident he would get home.

“I thought he was only just reaching his top at the end, and he has more to give.

“He is going to get better and better with racing, and he is a really smart horse.”