‘She thought she was going to fall off his back’ – John Sargent on THAT win

It’s not often a win at Kembla Grange on a Wednesday gets people talking.

But the win of Tsarevich looked that good, that even if the quality of the race might not prove to be that red-hot, punters couldn’t help but sit up and take notice.

The 3 year-old is trained by John Sargent, who said it reminded him of his former stars.

”I thought I’d seen another Gust of Wind, that’s exactly what she did at Scone in her first start and you know what she carried on to be like so let’s hope that this horse is as good,’’ he told SEN, who admitted he was surprised by the style of Tsarevich’s win.

‘’He just lobs around. He’s by Russian Camelot, he’s a staying type out of the Frankel mare. He just lobs around at the track. He ran first up last season and he was weak and went round at the back.’

Tsarevich produces an incredible finish to win Race 5 at @kemblaraces! 🔥@jsargentracing @MollyBourke7 pic.twitter.com/lRymHaGyVU

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 28, 2026

Sargent paid credit to an apprentice jockey for the win, saying if an experienced rider was onboard they would have ‘’sat up’’.

‘’Probably the help, I think, yesterday was having my apprentice, Molly Burke, on,’’ Sargent told SEN.

‘’He got sandwiched out of the gates, and that’s why he was so far back for a start. But she never gave up. I bet if I had a senior rider on, coming to the 600, they would have just sat up.

‘’She believed in the horse. She rides him at a track work and he finished off unbelievably.’’

Sargent said he didn’t believe the sectionals were that impressive and Tsarevich will be set for some staying races across autumn.

‘’ I don’t think the sectionals are that quick and the field wasn’t that strong, but you still don’t do that in any field,’’ he said.

‘’So that’ll tell us in the next few weeks. He’ll go back there in three weeks.

‘’He’s obviously got it now, but we’ll see if he carries on with it and goes through any of the three-year-old staying races in the autumn.’’

And the reaction from Bourke?

‘’ She said with the last 100, she thought she was going to fall off his back,’’ Sargent laughed.

‘’She was so excited’’.