The Justify colt Ndola, trained by Lindsay Park, is being aimed at the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) after a second consecutive victory at Sandown-Lakeside on Wednesday.
Ndola put in a strong performance to win the Benchmark 64 (1200m) race, adding to his impressive debut victory on the Pakenham Synthetic in June.
After finishing second to Public Attention (Written Tycoon) in a 1200-metre handicap at Caulfield last month, Ndola started as the short-priced favourite on Wednesday and comfortably defeated Pieris by 2.3 lengths, with another length back to Bossy Benita in third.
Trainer Ben Hayes, who co-trains the colt with his brothers JD and Will, was impressed with the win.
“I thought Luke (Currie, jockey) did a good thing, just letting him get balanced and get into a rhythm, then he was wide around the bend, and his final 100 metres was very impressive as he was running right away from them,” Hayes said.
“He’s a horse we believe will be much better out to 1400 metres and a mile, and we think he is very, very good.
“There are plenty of three-year-old options, and in two and a half weeks, we’ll look at the Exford Plate, which would be a good step up to 1400 metres, but he would now be our number one seed for the Caulfield Guineas, so exciting times ahead.”
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