One of the highlights of the Mornington program on Tuesday was the dominant victory of lightly-tried New Zealand bred three-year-old Made By Khan.
The Matt Laurie-trained son of Mongolian Khan was sent out a $1.60 favourite and never gave punters a moment’s concern after being pushed forward to set the tempo for jockey Lachlan Neindorf.
The handsome gelding had his rivals off the bit and chasing before the bend and was throttled down by Neindorf to score by three and a quarter lengths in the Progress Signs Plate (1500m), with plenty left in the tank.
Originally prepared by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman in New Zealand, Made By Khan was sold privately after trialling well at Cambridge and would go on to finish second at his first two starts for Laurie in the spring, before finishing sixth in stakes company at Flemington behind Ain'tnodeeldun.
Fresh-up from a spell, connections believe Made By Khan has matured both physically and mentally.
“He ticked all the boxes at home and in his trials and jumpouts, so we were expecting a forward run,” Laurie’s stable representative Sam McLeod said.
“He was bought out of a New Zealand trial and came over and just didn’t quite relax in his first preparation, so we elected to tip him out.
“He has come back this preparation and has really furnished into a nice horse and he is ticking along nicely.
“Lachie gave him a good ride, controlled the race and amped up the tempo when he needed to.
“He will stay all day and being a three-year-old who can stay, you never know where you can get to at this time of the year.”
McLeod indicated Laurie would consider a tilt at one of the later Derbys with the promising stayer.
“He will head in that direction. We will just find another race for him next start but we will give him every chance to get to those sort of races. Whether he gets there is up to him, but he did a good job today.”
Neindorf was delighted to get a result for Mornington trainer Laurie and suggested it was a sit and steer job.
“I did trial him at Cranbourne over 1100m and he gave me a really nice feel. He is a three-year-old now that wasn’t mentally mature enough in the spring and was only beaten five lengths in a Listed race by Ain'tnodeeldun,” Neindorf said.
“He was probably a deserved price and he did it with ease.
“We were that far ahead I thought I’d reward him and ease him down, but he was pulling harder after the line and coming back to scale I thought he was going to go another lap in the opposite direction, so he is definitely going to be better as he gets over further.”
From the first crop of Windsor Park Stud stallion Mongolian Khan, Made By Khan is from the Commands mare Made To Order.
Mongolian Khan’s other first crop winners include stakes performer My Squeeze Louise in addition to Supreme Khan, Mongolian Wings, Suppression, Maria Jane and Granados. – NZ Racing Desk
