Three-year-old Proisir gelding Calmsir (NZ) looks to have a bright future over ground after racing away for a comfortable victory in the Mahogany Challenge Final (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday.
The Shea Eden-trained youngster relished the step up in distance as he made a mockery of his $41 odds to score by 1-¾ Lengths from Forest Diamond (NZ) (Redwood), with Phere The Ex (Exosphere) back in third.
The victory was the first from eight starts for the Cranbourne-trained three-year-old, landing the thick end of the A$200,000 prizemoney for the staying race for three-year-olds on Finals Day at Flemington.
Stable representative Jamie Dentith said they had been confident that Calmsir, who entered off the back of placings at Wangaratta and Cranbourne over 2000m and 2080m respectively, would be better suited over today’s trip.
“There was one thing we knew for sure, the horse can stay,” Dentith said. “He’s got a really good constitution, we’ve done plenty of work with him and just can’t get him tired. He’s a really hard horse to get to sweat or anything like that.”
Calmsir raced near the rear of the field throughout and challenged widest in the straight to mow down his rivals under jockey Teo Nugent.
“I wasn’t too concerned because he’s the type of horse who’s very relaxed and very laid back like a nice, good stayer should be,” Dentith said.
“He switched off and when you ask him for something he was always going to improve, it was exciting (to watch).
Nugent was also of the opinion the raw galloper is an out and out stayer.
“He’s just a gentleman to ride. He jumped out of the gates and relaxed so well for me, but in fairness they went a good gallop throughout,” he said.
“The world’s his oyster at the minute and I feel with a win on his back he’s only going to grow in confidence and go on with it. I’m looking forward to anything beyond 2500 and the boys have got a nice horse on their hands.”
Bred by Neven Botica’s Botsky Pty Ltd, Calmsir is out of the unraced Zabeel mare Inner Peace (NZ), who stems from the family of Group One winning stayer Forte Dei Marme (Selkirk).
