Lightly raced three-year-old Acting has put her name forward as a potential spring contender with a commanding victory at Sandown.
After breaking her maiden status at Echuca, Acting was brought to town to tackle Wednesday’s Ladbrokes Odds Boost Handicap, recording a win that co-trainer Natalie Young hopes will open spring options.
Under a well-rated ride by Linda Meech, Acting raced to a 2-1/4 length win on the heavy track.
“We had no concerns of her handling the track as she’s out of a Pins mare and she’s always shown a lot of class,” Young said.
“You like to see them put a race away like that, especially if you’ve got spring hopes for them and ideally we’d like to think of her as a Thousand Guineas-type of horse.”
Young said the stable would assess Acting’s recovery from Wednesday’s win before deciding on her next outing.
Acting could return to Sandown for a 1400m three-year-old fillies benchmark 70 race on September 4 or Young said the stable could roll the dice and run the filly in the Group Three HDF McNeill Stakes at Caulfield on August 31.
“We’ll wait and see how she pulls up but she’s a quality filly and it’s good having a filly like her in the barn,” Young said.
Young, who trains in partnership with Trent Busuttin, completed a double when Pierrocity won the Ladbrokes Back Yourself Handicap.
Bendigo trainer Patrick Starr recorded his first city winner with Diamond Oasis in the Blue Star Print Handicap.
It was Diamond Oasis’ first win since December 2015 when trained by Joe Pride.
Besides Pride, nine-year-old Diamond Oasis also had stints with John O’Shea and Darren Weir before joining Starr in 2017.
“We’re a small team. It’s my first city winner so we’re real happy with that,” Starr said.
Jamie Kah said the win made up for the disappointment of Diamond Oasis’ last start defeat at Moonee Valley.
“He wanted to let down but there was no room in the last 200 metres and today he had an uninterrupted run,” Kah said.
Kyneton trainer Jarrod Robinson also broke his city duck with the win of Mean Mister in The Big Screen Company Handicap.