Lindsay Park’s astute acquisition of former New Zealand galloper Touchdown is continuing to yield rewards, with the progressive five-year-old gelding delivering another stellar performance at Flemington.
The gelding, trained by Ben, Will and JD Hayes, has now amassed five victories and three placings from only nine career starts following a dominant win in the Melbourne Cup Carnival On Sale (1620m).
After resuming with a notable second over 1400 metres at Sandown, Touchdown took another significant step forward in his second-up run.
“Although he didn’t win at Sandown, it was still a great run,” co-trainer Ben Hayes commented. “We had to go back from the draw on a heavy track first-up and he was super through the line. He really came through it well. This time he had to do a bit more work than we thought but it was an easy watch in the end and he was strong through the line and there were nice spacings back to second and third.”
Sent off as the $1.95 favourite, Touchdown comfortably defeated Danny O’Brien’s Fahrr Flung ($12) by two lengths, with Kaleo ($5.50) finishing a further 2ΒΌ lengths adrift in third.
Hayes indicated that the lightly raced import still possesses considerable room for improvement as the stable strategically elevates the level of competition.
“I think there is a lot more to come and he is an exciting horse going forward,” Hayes added. “It is always good when they run well at this place and there are a lot of nice races to win. We’re not going to get too carried away with him yet and we’ll go through the grades with him but he may end up in a nice race in the spring.”
This victory also marked Blake Shinn’s second winner of the day on his comeback meeting, following an extended period sidelined due to injury.
Shinn expressed confidence in Touchdown’s potential to evolve into an even superior racehorse as he is tested over longer distances.
“He’s a raw talent, I feel and he’s not the furnished product,” Shinn stated. “I love that he’s got a great length of stride and I think he’ll get better as he gets further.”
Explore the latest spring carnival betting markets with Australia’s leading online bookmakers.
