Trainer Matthew Eales was celebrating a job well done after his progressive winter sprinter Durham Lad (NZ) (Falkirk) claimed the Rich Hill Stud Autumn Championship Sprint Final (1200m) at Trentham on Saturday.
The lightly raced five-year-old had been set for the $50,000 contest by Eales due to the conditions of the lucrative winter sprint event that enabled the use of an apprentice allowance for the rating 74 contest.
The consistent Falkirk gelding was originally carded to carry topweight of 59.5kgs, however with apprentice Faye Lazet claiming a vital 2kg allowance, Durham Lad carried just 57.5kgs and produced a dominant on-pace performance to take out the race in fine style.
Lazet had her charge away nicely from an outside barrier and sat beside the pacemaker Hallelujah Brother (NZ) (Dalghar) before taking control of the race as the field made its way into the home straight.
Despite being hotly challenged in the final 300m, Durham Lad found another gear to comfortably hold out Rocket Science (NZ) (Keano) and Raffle (NZ) (Per Incanto) by more than a length at the line.
“We put this plan together a while ago and it is a great feeling to pull it off,” said Eales.
“With his consistency and the rating points he has built up it is very hard to win in this grade when you are lumping around 60kgs or more at every start.
“I knew he could win a race like this if we could get in with some weight relief, so we got Faye on board and she did a wonderful job to get him home.
“I said to her before the race that the key was just to keep him balanced as he is a tall, lanky customer with a massive stride, so on these tracks if you can just get him rolling and in a rhythm then he can be tough to pull back.
“He is a real genuine horse who you don’t need to use the whip on and it was a ten out of ten ride.”
Eales will now lift his sights with Durham Lad but will pick and choose his winter targets as he doesn’t believe he enjoys the really deep winter tracks.
“We will take him to an open handicap next, provided he can get a surface similar to what he struck on Saturday,” he said.
“He likes the cut in the ground but not the really deep stuff so we will just look around at venues like Te Rapa or Hastings which tend to provide the better winter footing.
“He is a little suspect at anything past 1200m, although now he is a fully mature horse, we might try to stretch him out to 1400m again.
“There is an open 1200m at Te Rapa in three weeks which looks a nice target for him.”
Raced by a large group that includes Eales himself, Durham Lad was purchased by his trainer for $40,000 out of the Kilgravin Lodge draft during the 2018 Ready To Run Sale at Karaka.
He is the third foal of unraced Lucky Unicorn mare Durham Belle and is closely related to class sprinter Durham Town (NZ) (Falkirk) who won eight races including the Gr.3 Darley Plate (1200m) twice and was also placed third in the Gr.1 Railway Handicap (1200m) on two occasions.
