Mick Kent will raise the bar for recent acquisition Consorting after the three-year-old made an impressive winning debut for the stable at Mornington on Wednesday.
Consorting, formerly trained by Stephen Hutchinson, was having his first start for Kent in the Sportingbet.com.au Handicap (1200m) and swamped his rivals to score a first-up victory.
While he isn’t looking at any lofty ambitions, Kent believes he will be able to find a suitable stakes race for Consorting during the spring carnival and expects the gelding to be better again next autumn.
“Before the corner I was thinking, `get moving, get moving’, because you could see they had stacked up, but he let down really nicely,” Kent said.
“He’s a big, raw horse with plenty of scope and size about him and he’s only going to keep improving.
“He’s a nice horse and I think there’s a better race in him. We’ll find a race over the spring, a Listed race or something, and I think he’ll be a better horse again in the autumn.”
Jockey Brad Rawiller was surprised by how quickly Consorting sprinted after he peeled him into the clear from behind the leaders at the top of the short Mornington straight.
The gelding defeated Turquoise King by half a length with Baker Boy 1-1/2-lengths away third.
“When I got him to the outside, he was electric. He put them away quickly,” Rawiller said.
Meanwhile, jockey Jake Noonan maintained his unbeaten record on the lightly-raced Tried And Tired with a city victory in the Sportingbet’s Protest Pay Up Handicap (1200m).
Noonan has won three from three on Tried And Tired with the Leon Corstens-trained gelding’s only defeat coming at Warwick Farm last start when he finished second with Nash Rawiller in the saddle.
“I remind Leon every time I see him about my record on this bloke and it was good to get back on him,” Noonan said.
“He’s beaten a pretty handy field today.”
