The winning margin was not as great for Nature Strip as his previous start but trainer Darren Weir hopes the talented sprinter has still shown enough to secure a slot in The Everest.
Nature Strip won by 4-1/2 lengths in quick time over 1100m on June 23 and the three-year-old was sent out the $1.30 favourite in Saturday’s Listed AR Creswick Series Final for three-year-olds at Flemington, stepping to 1200m.
Nature Strip led under Damian Lane who sat as quietly as he could until inside the final 300m.
Although he didn’t draw away over the final 200m like last start, Nature Strip scored his first stakes win by 1-1/2 lengths over Order of Command with 1-1/4-lengths to Egyptian Bullet third.
“He looked to be really cruising there and probably looked he was going to explode and really run away with it,” Weir said.
“He still won so it’s a good feeling.”
Weir believes Nature Strip will come on again from Saturday’s race and he said it was hopefully on to bigger and better things for the rising four-year-old.
“I guess there’s two options,” Weir said.
“I think everyone is pretty keen to get him into The Everest, so hopefully there’s some slot holders there that might be interested in taking him on.
“And if that doesn’t happen I guess we’ll map out a program for the spring.”
Lane said the wind played a part in Nature Strip racing more keenly than he did two weeks earlier but still felt it was a good win.
“Things didn’t go that well for him because of the wind, he wanted to fire up a bit and he didn’t get into as good a rhythm as he did last start,” Lane said.
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