News

Politeness delivers dream Group 1 for ailing part-owner Phil Sly

1st Nov 2015

Herald Sun - Glenn McFarlane - Saturday, 31 October 2015

IF it hadn’t been for the confident words of trainer Robert Smerdon, Politeness’ part-owner Phil Sly might not have made it to Flemington yesterday to see his super mare break her Group 1 maiden.

Sly has been fighting cancer for a long time, and that battle left him in a poor state Saturday morning, due to a new drug he has been taking.

But Smerdon’s words, and the fact the Japanese connections who part-own the horse were in town, convinced Sly to drag himself out of his sick bed and made it to Derby Day.

“I don’t even really feel like I have cancer at the moment,” an elated Sly said after Politeness ($19) scored a three-quarters-of-a-length win over Fenway ($26) and the luckless Azkadellia ($11) in third place.

“They have taken a few layers of bark off me, and got me on a new drug. It is not doing the right thing by me. I was laying in the bowl this morning and I wasn’t coming.

“But I knew we had the Japanese here. And Smerdy (Smerdon) said ‘Take whatever money you have got and have it on her. They won’t be beating her today.’”

Smerdon’s confidence was well placed and the five-year-old mare made it a hat-trick of wins, following successive Group 3 victories at Caulfield this spring.

“She is probably the most talented galloper in the stable, but frustratingly it hasn’t come together that often because of her racing pattern,” Smerdon said.

“She is a run-on kind of horse, so those horses need things to work out at the right time. I think she is a genuine Group 1 horse and it is great to see that on her CV.”

Sly, who was given six months to live more than five years ago but continues to fight the illness, said Politeness had appeared headed to the breeding barns in Japan, to the farm of high-profile owner/breeder Kasumi Yoshida.

But Sly opted to keep Politeness in work, and the rewards are still coming.

“She had already booked her ticket (to Japan), but she is probably going to stay in Australia and have the autumn up in Sydney,” he said. “And if we got a wet-track, she is probably an even better horse.”

Smerdon said the mare was almost certain to head to the paddock now, but would return in the autumn for races such as the $600,000 Coolmore Classic (1500m).

“I think her job is done (this campaign),” Smerdon said. “She will probably have a rest now.”

“There was a lot at the end of her last preparation about retiring her because Kasumi was going to buy Phil out or vice versa,” Smerdon said. “But it was Phil’s call. He said for the sort of money that was involved he thought ‘let’s roll the dice’ and he has been vindicated.”