A GROUP consisting of many first-time owners are looking forward to having a runner on Wagga Gold Cup day after Future Fund's maiden victory at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on Thursday.
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Future Fund ($2.80) broke through at just his second start for Wagga trainer Maddy Collins, taking out the Maiden Handicap (1200m) with Josh Richards in the saddle.
Collins only purchased the three-year-old recently from the Mick Price and Michael Kent stable and appears to have found the key to the son of Flying Artie.
He produced a fast-finishing second first-up at Wagga earlier this month, then charged home to score his maiden win at Wagga on Thursday.
Collins was thrilled for a lot of first-time owners who purchased a share in Future Fund.
"We paid not much for him so he's already paid for himself and paid for his prep," Collins explained.
"The owners, most of them are first-time owners. My mum's got a share in him, Josh's brother and a few of the dads from school have a share in him.
"It's good, most of them are first time owners and they're all over the moon. They've all got the bug now and want to buy another one."
Future Fund downed fellow Wagga galloper Yourawizard ($31) narrowly, with three and a half lengths back to Goulburn visitor Downtown's Abbey ($7.50) in third.
Collins took Future Fund to the paddock on Friday for a brief freshen up and will bring him back for a race on Wagga Gold Cup day.
"We'll just give him a freshen up, put him out for seven to 10 days because he hasn't had a big prep," she said.
"Then we'll bring him back for that class one 1200, all the owners are pretty keen to have a runner over the carnival. They're all a bit keen and very excited."
Collins revealed that she initially thought Future Fund would be better suited over a mile. She and her partner, Richards, have been pleasantly surprised by the performances over 1200m.
"We got him from Price-Kent over at Cranbourne and he'd had two starts over there at Mornington and Pakenham over 1400 and 1500," she explained.
"We got him here and he's the worst track worker in history, he does not give you an inch.
"We thought we'll put him in over 1200 first up and use it as a trial and he ran second obviously, it was a massive run. He got held up and he still showed a turn of foot.
"So we found that race (on Thursday) and thought we'll keep him at the 1200 for now. Josh was always of the thinking that he'll get a mile but now we're not sure if he'll go past 1400.
"We'll freshen him up and stick to the 1200 for now and he might get 1400 a bit later on.
"He still does a lot wrong, he hangs in, he doesn't want to go straight, he's just a bit green still so obviously there's a bit of improvement to come."
It was a timely win for Collins' stable given she has gone about a rebuild of her racing stock.
"We've got a heap of babies. We restocked this year so we've got a heap of young ones coming through," she said.
"The stable's on the up I think."
Wagga trainer Mick Travers also enjoyed success on Thursday when Clearedhot ($5.50) took out the Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1400m).
Canberra trainer Keith Dryden landed a race-to-race winning double courtesy of wins to Bringbackthebears ($2.80) and Offspring ($6.00).