Yulong colt Grand Prairie took a promising step forward on Wednesday, claiming his first win in the TAB Plate (1100m) on Randwick’s Kensington track.
Despite racing greenly, trainer Peter Snowden was pleased with the two-year-old’s performance and believes he has plenty of upside.
“He’s still learning… but he’s still winning while doing that,” Snowden said.
“So you know with improvement and the more race experience he gets, the better he is going to be.”
Grand Prairie ($6) was guided by Tom Sherry to a rails-hugging run before pushing clear to hold off Pictor ($31) by a half-head, with favourite Ninja ($2.10) a further 1.5 lengths away in third.
Snowden has yet to lock in future targets but said there are plenty of options for the son of Written Tycoon, who is out of $2.55 million mare Viddora.
Meanwhile, Godolphin filly Custom showed her class in the Drinkwise Plate (1100m), scoring an effortless win.
“There are bigger fish for her to fry,” said Darren Beadman.
Custom may not match stable star Tempted just yet, but Beadman sees strong potential ahead.
Tempted, winner of the Reisling and Percy Sykes Stakes, and third in the Golden Slipper, will join Ciaron Maher next season alongside Zardozi.