A move away from preparing a team of mostly jumpers has given mother-daughter training partners Lyn Tolson and Leonie Proctor a stakes win at Moonee Valley.
Well Sprung earned a comparison with top sprinter Rich Enuff with his all-the-way victory in the McKenzie Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.
Well Sprung
Rich Enuff landed the race 12 months ago before recording another two black-type victories leading up to his second placing in the Caulfield Guineas.
While Well Sprung holds a Caulfield Guineas nomination, he could be saved for the big three-year-old races in the autumn.
Ridden by Michael Walker, Well Sprung ($21) scored by 1-1/4 lengths from Danuki ($6.50) with Odyssey Moon ($7) the same margin away third.
With a Grand National Hurdle success on her CV, Proctor said Well Sprung’s victory equals her mother’s previous biggest flat success of Just Look which took out the Lord Stakes at Caulfield.
Now the pair have hopes of bigger prizes with Well Sprung, a half-brother to Tawteen which won earlier on the program.
Well Sprung was having his second start having finished second on heavy ground at Cranbourne last month and Proctor said a familiarisation gallop at Moonee Valley on Tuesday was beneficial.
“He gets through heavy ground but he’s obviously much better on top of the ground,” Proctor said.
“Bringing him here on Tuesday certainly helped out a lot.
“He was a lot more relaxed here today than what he was on Tuesday.”
Proctor said the stable would wait and see how Well Sprung recovers from Saturday’s success before deciding his immediate future.
“He’s raw, very raw,” she said.
“We’ll just sleep on it and see how he is in the next week or so.”
Walker said Well Sprung was an exciting galloper but was still six months away from reaching his full potential.
“The Caulfield Guineas and those sort of races might come a bit too fast for him,” Walker said.
“I galloped him here and he gave me a good feel and while he won well today, he surprised me what he did.”
The Tolson and Proctor team, along with Walker, were denied a stakes race double when Just Magical was beaten a length into second place by Le Bonsir in the following race, the Carlyon Stakes.
