One defied her trainer’s opinion, the other lifted himself off the canvas but both Captain Amelia and Soldier Of Rome stamped themselves as horses to follow with gallant debut wins at Randwick’s Kensington track.
Captain Amelia is by Dundeel, best known for producing middle-distance types and stayers, however she managed to get the job done in Wednesday’s Racing And Sports Handicap over 1000m.
Trainer John O’Shea had always thought highly of the filly but felt she may have been vulnerable over the short journey, and he said the fact she won regardless signified a bright future.
“I thought they’d be too sharp for her today but one thing I’ve learned in my time is that good horses do good things at their first start, irrespective of what you think,” O’Shea said.
“Ideally, she may end up in a Percy Sykes (Stakes) down the road because she will derive so much benefit from that and if it happened to get a little bit of rain, I think she’d like that too.”
A $160,000 Inglis sales purchase, Captain Amelia ($3.40) scored by a length over Gold Lover ($9) with Tulloch Lodge youngster Saikono ($2.90 fav) close-up in third.
While Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott had to settle for a minor placing with the latter, they were to the fore in the earlier juvenile race for the colts and geldings with Soldier Of Rome ($3.20) showing fighting qualities to score.
The Snitzel youngster led and was clearly headed at the 200m before responding to Tim Clark’s vigorous riding and lifting himself for another effort, coming away from his rivals again on the line to win by three-quarters of a length over O’Shea’s Capital Heart ($3.10 fav) with Storm The Ramparts ($7.50) third.
“He was down and out there at the furlong, but a bit similar to what he did in the trial, once he got a bit of competition around him he really was in for the fight,” Clark said.
“He is nowhere near a 1000-metre horse, but class got him through today.
“I think he’s going to be a really serious colt when he gets over 1400 metres and even up to a mile.”
Bott was equally effusive and said Soldier Of Rome still had a lot to learn.
“It was a very tough effort from the horse to pick himself up from that position,” Bott said.
“It’s not easy for an inexperienced horse. I thought he was under a bit of pressure there at the furlong, so it was great to see him respond.”