Twin Hills Stud’s young sire Peltzer has only had a handful of runners from his first crop so far, but he appears to have a winner that might be well above average in progressive gelding Buccleuch.
Trained by Patrick and Michelle Payne, Buccleuch was second at Flemington to highly regarded stakes-winning gelding Highvol last month and then followed up with a facile maiden win at Echuca.
Sent back to Flemington on Saturday for an open juvenile over 1420m he showed serious potential when striding clear for Billy Egan to win by more than two lengths.
It was soft victory on the line for a promising youngster that now has two wins and a second from four starts with prizemoney topping $125,000.
Billy Egan has ridden Buccleuch in every start to date and has been impressed with his rapid progress and particularly today when he showed a brilliant change of gear.
“He won really well today," Egan said.
"I've ridden him all the way through in all his trials and races and he's always been improving, but he's never shown me the turn of foot like that.
"He's always been a little leggy, a little unbalanced and I thought he might be a horse that maintains a gallop.
"That's why I went for him quite firmly at the top of the straight. I thought he might have to struggle to get past Observer, but he went past it like it was nailed to the fence.
"That surprised me a bit. It was a really good win."
Bred and retained to race by Sandy Tait, Buccleuch was foaled and raised at Twin Hills Stud and is the second winner from stakes-placed Fastnet Rock import Golden Fastnet (Fr), a half-sister to Group III winner Wind Chimes (GB), who is also at stud in Australia.
Interestingly, Wind Chimes was sold at the last Inglis Digital Sale and topped it when selling for $305,000 in foal to Wootton Bassett (GB) to Ben Kwok, who will no doubt take a keen interest in the progress of Buccleuch.
Golden Fastnet sadly died last year, but has a yearling colt by Hallowed Crown and had a filly last spring by Prized Icon.
Buccleuch looks a bright prospect for So You Think’s speedy Group II winner Peltzer who stands at Twin Hills this spring at a fee of $11,000.
