Albury sprinter-turned-stayer The Doctor's Son booked his place in the field for the $160,000 Wagga Gold Cup with a commanding victory on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Albury trainer John Whitelaw produced a brilliant training performance to have The Doctor's Son ($13.00) take out the $40,500 Kooringal Stud Murrumbidgee Cup (1800m) at Wagga.
The win means The Doctor's Son is exempt from the ballot for the listed Wagga Gold Cup (2000m) on Friday week, May 1.
"It was a fantastic win, for a horse that was winning over 1000 metres as a sprinter, to be now winning over 1800," Whitelaw said.
"We bred the horse and he's done us proud. Hopefully he runs a good race in the Cup. He's doing everything right."
It was a big effort from The Doctor's Son, who had not raced over further than 1200m before this preparation.
His three previous wins, from 12 career starts, had been over 900m and 1000m. It wasn't until he finished down the track at Flemington to kick off this campaign that he thought about stretching the five-year-old out.
"It was when I raced him in the city and thought he wasn't quite quick enough," Whitelaw explained.
"Being out of a Reset mare, I turned my mind to setting him for a mile at Albury and he ran a really good second. I thought he ran it out pretty strongly so we'd try him over 1800 a couple of times.
"He's got a great action and is bred to stay, but you don't know until you try. The funny thing is that when he was winning over 1000 metres it always took them half a lap to pull him up."
Michael Heagney, who had ridden the horse at his four prior starts, stuck strong and got the job done. Whitelaw paid tribute to Heagney for the work he has done with the horse and also credited the removal of the blinkers off for helping the gelding relax.
The Doctor's Son won by 1.2 lengths from Wyong visitor Brazen ($6.50) and the Mitch Beer-trained River Of Gold ($31), who was a hard luck story from the race.
The Trevor Sutherland-trained Azaryah, who started the $3.70 favourite, tired to run seventh. Stablemate Willy White Socks ran fifth.
READ MORE