Clifton Hill looked every inch the seasoned racehorse when it crossed the line more than two lengths ahead of the rest of the field in the $20 700 bet365 Odds Drift Protector over 1200 m at Swan Hill on Monday.
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It gives him one win from one start, and punters a welcome $13.90.
You simply can’t do any better, but Clifton Hill’s Seymour-based trainer Jamie Scott begs to differ.
“I’ve only had him for this prep, he was with another stable before that but he has had one trial for me and I thought he came off that pretty well,” Scott said.
“He really should have raced about a month ago at Echuca but didn’t, he had a little setback.
“But he got over that and did some nice work with me and showed nice ability that he wanted to be a racehorse.
“Today was a good first start but I reckon there’s a fair bit of ability there.
“We knew he had a bit of gate speed, and we have a friend who did the form and we thought if he could get up on the speed he would be very close.”
Scott said jockey Craig Newitt described Clifton Hill as a “very nice” horse who would benefit from the experience and should go on to do well.
“So I guess he should win some nice races, hopefully.” Scott said.
“I also really want to thank the owner, Max Smart, for giving us the horse. He’s 96 and I’ve never met him, so it’s really good to get a winner for him. It’s fantastic.”
Coming out of the number 10 gate in a very even start, the three-year-old gelding burnt a little petrol to race across the front of the field and park himself right outside the 80/1 bolter Money in Mud, which had shown a good turn of gate speed to move across even faster and take up the running.
With Newitt in the saddle, Clifton Hill never appeared under pressure in that nervous first career start.
He let Money in Mud bowl along in front without ever putting much pressure on the field and once they straightened it quickly turned into a bit of a charge.
Clifton Hill did show flashes of immaturity during the running and wanted to hang in a bit in the straight, but once he got clear it was time to put down your glasses and watch a young horse with some serious potential do his thing.
Favourite Big Lenny proved anything but. Backed into $3.80 he only managed to beat one horse home, while at the pointy end of the field, Clifton Hill ended up 2.3 lengths clear being eased down.
Newitt completed a good day out with a double after he guided roughie Buchan Hoaks to victory in the $20 000 Hygain Handicap over 1600 m.
Training partners Ciaron Maher and Davide Eustace also landed a double with Soleil de Lune in the $20 700 Busbiz Plate over 1600 m and Taco Tiger in the next, the $20 700 The Bottle’O Swan Hill.
