We took two horses to Ballarat today and both ran very well, Manapine coming right away to win his maiden at the second time of asking.
Manapine came to us from Paul Messara last year and made his debut at Sale where he finished a good second. He went out, had a good break and has returned a stronger and more furnished horse and he was impressive winning today after racing three wide for much of the trip.
He had drawn wide and Dwayne Dunn did the right thing in letting the horse settle where he was comfortable which was what we were wanting. The application of blinkers has sharpened this horse up and when he let down in the home straight he accelerated into the lead and was coming right away at the finish.
I have entered him for the Australian Guineas and Australian Derby and there is also the South Australian Derby on the horizon.
Cocoa Bar made his first start for us in the race before and he went super over 1200m. Chasing a strong pace all the way he was strong at the finish to be third behind the odds-on Karigara who has city form and he can improve a lot for this run.
Cocoa has scope for further improvement and he is still adjusting to racing left-handed so to see him run so well is very pleasing.
Both there three-year-olds are by Manhattan Rain and both have futures. Both have excellent temperaments, are laid back to the point of being horizontal and both have plenty of upside.
Thanks to Arrowfield for entrusting us with their horses and a great result for a lot of hard work from the team at home.
Thanks to Slickpix for the image.