Takissacod claims Caulfield victory for trainer Donna Scott

Partnered by Blaike McDougall, Takissacod produced an upset victory in the $130,000 Benchmark 78 Handicap, (1400m) to pay $40 plus on all the totes.

Despite drawing barrier 11, McDougall settled the five-year-old behind the early leader which proved to be a race winning move.

After enjoying an economical trip, Takissacod surged to the lead over the final furlong and showed plenty of fight to stave off the challenge of Under My Spell by a neck.

Takissacod was formerly trained by Norm Loy but changed stables after he was suspended by Racing NSW stewards for three months after making social media posts attacking NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Scott said it was a huge thrill to land another city winner after stable star Lord Von Costa won at Flemington in July 2020.

"It was a huge thrill to win in the city again," Scott said.

"She has always shown her fair share of ability and won the Corowa Cup last year when trained by Norm.

"She was also stiff not to make the final of the Country Championships last year after running third in the heat.

"So I certainly had the welcome mat out when the owners were looking for a new trainer.

"She came back from a spell in September and thrived during her time off and put a fair bit of weight on.

"She is a nice, big strong mare at the minute and produced a nice run at her previous start at Flemington when running third."

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Scott was also full of praise for the ride of McDougall.

"Nothing seemed to be making much ground from back in the field at Caulfield so Blaike decided to ride the mare a bit closer to the lead than we anticipated," she said

"With hindsight it was the difference of winning or running a place.

"Blaike was impressed how tough she was at the finish and thought she may have been a sitting shot for the swoopers over the final 100m."

Takissacod is owned by a local syndicate with several former Barnawartha footballers involved including Matt Robinson, former coach Peter Cook and Daryl Webb.

Brendon Huggard is also a part-owner.

Scott said some of the owners enjoyed a small windfall after taking the lucrative odds on offer.

"I think there were quite a few sore heads on Sunday morning," she said.

"A few of the boys don't mind having a couple of hundred on her when she goes around and got a huge return at the big odds."

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