An excellent return to the racetrack for Private Hero, with the Ekraar gelding dashing quickly to win over 1400m at the Sunshine Coast today.
Ridden by Stephanie Lacy, who claimed 1.5kg to reduce his weight to 58kg, he carried 4kg more than all but one of the other runners, but was too classy for the Class 3 field.
In the small field of 6, the ex NZ’er settled last with a steady pace on, but just as it looked like it would be difficult to sprint home he was able to run a slick 34.87 seconds for the last 600m to hit the lead over the last 50 metres. To put that into perspective, the winner of the 1000m sprint race ran 34.4 seconds for the last 600m.
Steph commented that he did want to lay in down the straight, and he was a little difficult to ride. That trait was noticeable in some of his NZ races, so some work needs to be done, but it does suggest he has some raceday improvement up his sleeve.
Trainer John Symons was thrilled, suggesting that it does look like the stayer is in for a very good campaign, and we can only hope that after a very good spell, that Private Hero is now more robust and ready for a full campaign over the summer stretching to 2000m and beyond. Thanks to the team at Golden Gully; their second 1st up winner this week for horses returning from spelling at their premises.
A big thanks too to Grant Peters at www.tracksidephotography.com for the great photography.