A big drop in weight has helped tough gelding Romakash score his first open company win at the Gold Coast.
Romakash ($7) was given the run of the race by jockey Larry Cassidy before running down Fighting Teo ($5.50) on the line in the Heineken Handicap (2200m).
Trainer Matt Kropp has had a lot of success buying staying horses, including Romakash, from the New Zealand sales in recent years.
“The best of them was probably Trusty Lad who won the Three-Year-Old staying series here,” Kropp said.
“But this bloke has won nine races now so he is getting up there.
“There is a 2400m race (Tattersall's Cup) coming up (June 13 at Eagle Farm) so he can have a crack at that.”
Romakash won his previous start in restricted class with 60kg and dropped 5kg on Saturday.
“The weight drop helped and Larry rode him perfectly,” Kropp said.
Former Sydney galloper Oriental Runner ($3) scored his first win in more than two years in the Darby McCarthy Plate (1200m).
Oriental Runner, who was Listed placed in Sydney when with trainer Gary Neale, had not won since scoring at Warwick Farm on March 18, 2018.
The gelding is entered in the Group One Stradbroke Handicap on June 6 but new trainer John Smerdon said he was highly unlikely to get a run.