The colt carried his trial form over to race day with a tidy front-running performance to bank the $6250 winning purse of Wednesday's New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Pearl Series Race (1100m) at Pukekohe.
Nirvana In Fire is eligible for next month's Karaka Million (1200m) and will
have another chance to secure a berth in the race with past years indicating
around $10,000 in stakes earnings to be the entry level."We've got a few dollars and we'll have to look for some more pretty quickly," said part-owner Andrew Scott, who trains the chestnut with Lance O'Sullivan.
"He needs to get familiar with Ellerslie so we'll pick out one of the races at the carnival there for him."
Nirvana In Fire won the start under rider Michael McNab to lead and, despite cornering a little awkwardly, he comfortably held another debutante in Scorch at bay in the run to the post.
"He was a bit green turning for home, but it was encouraging the way he got away and he's certainly going the right way."
Nirvana In Fire had showed good improvement from his first trial, where he ran third at Te Awamutu, to his second last month at Cambridge where he also beat Scorch.
"He got caught wide there and had to do it quite tough to get outside the leader," Scott said. "He had an excuse to have run third or fourth, but he hit the line really well," Scott said.
"He's built to run early and everything is indicating that he's a fast-running type."
Nirvana In Fire's pedigree backs up that opinion as he is a son of Showcasing from the family of the Gr.1 Railway Handicap (1200m) winner Alynda. – NZ Racing Desk.
