A half-brother to Group One winner Single Gaze has put his hand up as an early Victoria Derby contender with a maiden win at Sale.

Resurge was having his third career start and his first for the campaign when he took out a 1422m-maiden on Wednesday, as favourite, scoring by two lengths.

It was the ideal campaign start for the Tony McEvoy-trained three-year-old colt under jockey Luke Currie.

McEvoy’s Melbourne foreman Michael Shepherdson said the stable had always held the colt in high esteem.

“He’s a big lad and he’s taken a little while to develop,” Shepherdson said.

“He’s a horse we think has plenty of scope and in the back of Tony’s mind he’s earmarked him as a Derby horse so he’s kicked off his preparation really well.

“He’s a big doing colt so there’s plenty more to come.

“He’ll tighten up a bit.”

The Group One Victoria Derby (2500m) is at Flemington in November.

Single Gaze was a three-year-old Group One winner of the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill before a fall in the 2016 Australian Oaks at Randwick put her on the sidelines for almost 12 months.

She returned to win the Group Two P J O’Shea Stakes at Doomben last year before going on to run second to Boom Time in the Caulfield Cup.

Trained by Nick Olive, Single Gaze was sold with a breeding career in mind, but the mare has been put into work by her new owner and is now trained by Chris Waller.

She ran seventh, with regular rider Kathy O’Hara aboard, in an 800m-trial at Warwick Farm on July 20.

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