Impressive debutant Fields Of Courage (NZ) ( Savabeel) will go down as Michael Moroney and Glen Thompson’s first winner together, getting the better of favourite Athanatos over 1300 metres at Sandown on Wednesday.
The son of Savabeel cost connections $425,000 at the 2020 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale and, even though it’s taken until early in his four-year-old season for him to debut, he made a strong impression when he finally did so.
Athanatos ($3.50) looked to be going much better at the 400m, coasting to the front shortly thereafter, but Fields Of Courage ($6.50) picked up impressively as the race went on.
Moroney and Thompson’s galloper hit the front with 100m to go and drew a length clear on the line, eased down late by Mark Zahra.
Thompson, who has previously trained in his own right and joined Moroney in the form book at the beginning of the season, was delighted to get the win on the board and vindicate the long journey to Fields Of Courage’s debut.
“He couldn’t have been more impressive, (it was) good to finally get him to the races, he’s always shown a fair bit at home,” he said.
“Mark’s done a fair bit on him, he’s done his jumpouts last time and this time and he was really keen on him.
“It’s good when you get a good jockey on and he gives him a gun ride.”
Thompson revealed that the gelding had actually made it to races previously, but had to be scratched, which was emblematic of the immature nature that kept him from debuting before Wednesday.
But with these issues hopefully firmly in the past, Thompson is confident it will be onwards and upwards from here on in.
“It was just immaturity, he had a few little issues last time,” he said.
“He actually made it to races last time in and got hurt, but he’s a nice horse, we’ve taken our time with him and hopefully we reap the rewards for it.
“We’ll see how he comes through today, but there’s definitely no reason we don’t think he can keep going, we’re very happy with him.”
