Riccarton horseman Andrew Carston collected a winning double at his local synthetic meeting on Thursday, firstly as an owner and later as a trainer.
From his own barn, Delmonico was aiming for back-to-back victories in the BMC Construction Rating 75 1600, having caught Rule Of Law right on the line last start on the all-weather surface. In the hands of Krishna Mudhoo, the gelding was customarily slow away, before coming through on the rail to settle in fifth.
The big-striding Peecee Pussycat went up to lead and gave a sight down much of the home straight, only for the win to be snatched by Delmonico in the shadows of the post.
It was the fifth win from 27 starts for the son of Prince Of Brooklyn, who has hit his straps again this campaign.
“I’m really happy with him, he’s really come of age this year,” Carston said.
“I told a couple of people today that he won his first couple of starts for me as a four-year-old, then he just got right up in the grades as a bit of a big dumb-dumb. He’s taken a long time to work it all out and he hasn’t gone a bad race this whole preparation to be fair.
“I was a little worried in the smaller field that we would be a bit closer than we were, but Krishna rides him well, he just leaves him alone early and he showed a really good turn of foot. He hasn’t really shown that same turn of foot on the grass, but he really gets going on the poly.”
Carston intends to run Delmonico during the Grand National Festival of Racing in the coming weeks, but unfortunately won’t have a synthetic option.
“I will run him on National Week, but he’ll have to go to the grass because there isn’t a suitable race for him on the poly, which is a bit disappointing,” he said.
“But he has got a pretty good record on wet ground, so he’ll run there, then we’ll reassess.”
Earlier in the meeting, Carston was represented by Go Your Own Way, a son of Belardo, prepared by West Melton trainer Nayton Mitchell.
Go Your Own Way had made four appearances since joining Mitchell, all with merit, and stepping up to the middle-distance trip, he looked well suited and punters agreed, backing the gelding into $2.40 favouritism. Jumping from the ace barrier, Go Your Own Way took his time to get into stride, settling near the tail of the field.
Princess Solitaire was the pacemaker throughout and led the maiden field into the straight, where Go Your Own Way started to go through his gears. He hit the lead at the 50m alongside Typsy and had the edge over that runner late, powering clear to salute by three quarters of a length.
The four-year-old was a $2,900 purchase via gavelhouse.com for Carston and Mitchell, and has more than doubled that investment with Thursday’s result.
“He was a gavelhouse purchase for Nayton and he’s doing a good job with him,” Carston said. “At the time, he was going for the newcomer to training award, but I think he’ll end up second or third.
“This horse was a bit headstrong initially, but Nayton has worked him out and he was quite dominant today, although in maiden grade, he did win well.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
