Trainer Mike Moroney has unearthed another smart three-year-old with Elkington Road scoring an impressive debut win at Sandown.
Elkington Road took out the Ladbroke It! Plate (1200m) on Wednesday a week after stablemate Japanese Emperor created a huge impression with his debut win at the same venue.
Ridden by Jamie Mott, Elkington Road ($4) scored by 2-¼ lengths from the $3.40 favourite Ferrari Road with Nicodemus ($3.70) a further three-quarters-of-a-length away third.
Assistant-trainer Glen Thompson said Moroney had been confident of success on Wednesday after witnessing the debut win of Japanese Emperor.
“But obviously on a Heavy (10) you don’t really know what you are going to get until you see them produce it,” Thompson said.
“But it was good to see him get the result.
“All you can do is win, so he’s got a lot of upside and it’s a good time of year to have a three-year-old coming to the races and doing that.
“There’s a lot of options and Michael will sit down and work out a plan.”
Thompson said the plan for Japanese Emperor was to head to the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 17.
He said he was unsure on immediate options for Elkington Road, although the stable would like to keep them separated as much as possible.
Mott would not be drawn on which three-year-old he thought was better but said they were both nice horses with bright futures,” Mott said.
“I’m not sure where they’ll end up, but it’s a good time of year to have a couple of first starters show a turn of foot like that.
“This one is very raw. He didn’t know what was going on, which is probably more exciting than anything, so I wouldn’t like to pick one yet, it’s too early.”
