Man About Town wins in style
GUTSY WIN: COLT WAS BADLY CUT INTO ON THE RIGHT HIND ABOUT 400M OUT.
Bass-Robinson and Kotzen yards seem to have promising stock.
Man About Town appreciated the drop in class as he got up to narrowly win Race 6, a MR 80 Handicap over 1600m at Kenilworth in an exciting finish on Saturday.
The Justin Snaith-trained runner Silver League came into this off two consecutive wins, and looked odds-on to make it a treble when he sneaked through at the rail around 300m out and went clear.
But Man About Town had competed against far stronger in all three legs of the Winter Series, and got the upper hand late under a determined Grant Behr ride to win by a neck.
It was a gutsy win, as he was badly cut into on the right hind about 400m out, and left plenty of his blood in the number one box!
Strongest race of the day was Race 7, a MR 93 1200m Handicap, and Bwana used the strong tailwind and a low weight to score an easy pillar-to-post victory.
Earlier Dynasty colt Majestic Mozart marked himself down as a bit above average with a fluent win in Race 3, which looked highly competitive on paper.
Backed in to 7-2 from 9-2, he cruised clear early in the straight, and had the race in the bag at least 200m out.
"He's one of my better horses. A really smart colt, and I was confident," said trainer Candice BassRobinson.
Runner up Herodotus is also one to take out of this race.
This Trippi debutante made eye-catching progress from stone last, and finished well clear of the balance. This Glen Kotzentrained grey colt will take a lot of beating next time.
Indeed the Kotzen yard seem to have some promising stock, as another debutante, Strawberry Wine, also ran on from last but went one better by winning Race 4.
Faye and Contessa's Glance were seemingly battling it out for the win late on, but Ryan Munger brought Strawberry Wine through on the inside rail and she cruised past to score by a widening 0.75 lengths.
Newly appointed Kotzen stable jockey Munger said she was a "nice filly who will come on a lot from this," while the trainer himself described her as an "awesome filly".
Easiest winner of the day though was Pippielangkous in Race 1. She had showed a ton of pace on debut when runner up to highly regarded Varsity Girl, and with a strong tailwind behind her was always going to take some catching.
And so it proved. Donovan Dillon lost the opposition a long way out and was able to gear down to a near four-length win.