Veight has lived up to the potential he showed on debut at Pakenham with a stunning win at Flemington.
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy -trained two-year-old took out the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) on Saturday, but immediate thoughts following the race were for jockeys Jamie Kah and Craig Williams who fell from their respective mounts Flyball and Dubenenko 400m after the start.
Kah was transported to Royal Melbourne Hospital after slipping in and out of consciousness but was showing signs of improvement while Williams was transported to the Alfred Hospital with a suspected fractured collarbone.
It was the second week in a row that a fall at Flemington had marred a feature race after Ethan Brown and Mark Zahra fell in the Australian Guineas.
Ridden by Damian Lane, Veight, the $4.80 betr.com.au favourite, registered a two-length win from Apulia ($61) with Amur ($21) a further 1-¼ lengths away third.
Veight is likely to head to Sydney for two Group 1 two-year-old races, the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and the Champagne Stakes (1600m).
“Certainly the Sires’,” Calvin McEvoy said.
“It’s three weeks away up there, there’s improvement to come and then we’ll reassess after that.”
Following his debut win at Pakenham in early February, the McEvoy’s aimed Veight at Saturday’s race.
“Obviously it’s a bit of a different program leading into a 1400-metre two-year-old race, but we had to trust his ability,” McEvoy said.
“He’s gone five-and-a-half weeks with a very soft trial (in between) into today and we just feel he’s got so much improvement to come, which is what makes today’s win even more special.”
Lane said it was a smart decision by the McEvoy father-and-son training team to bypass the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Flemington to concentrate on Saturday’s race.
“Today he was able to take a sit, he’s a little bit field-shy, but when he got there, he really let rip,” McEvoy said.
“He’s shown now that’s he’s versatile, he can go forward, and he can sit in behind, so that’s a very good attribute to have going forward.”