An excited Kim Waugh predicted a big future for Valdhez who rewarded the trainer’s faith after his last-start failure with victory at Rosehill.
Valdhez signalled his ability with a debut win at Canterbury last month but circumstances were against him when he ran sixth to Testarhythm at Rosehill two weeks ago.
Punters steered away from Valdhez in Saturday’s De Bortoli Wines (1400m) sending him out at $8 with Nextanix the $3.10 favourite.
Things went right for Valdhez with Brenton Avdulla positioning him on the outside of the leader Testarhythm ($4.60).
Valdhez took the lead inside the 200 metres and strode to a 3-1/4 length win over Testarhythm with Altius ($5) a short half-head away third and Nextanix fourth.
“That’s what I thought he would do last start,” Waugh said.
“But everything went wrong the other day and I was disappointed, not in the horse but in the way the race panned out.
“He pulled up so well and I wanted to prove what a good horse he is.
“I wanted him to do what he has today so now we can make plans.”
A $110,000 yearling at the 2009 New Zealand Premier Sale, Valdhez is by High Chaparral out of Kaapstad mare Caserio and Waugh believes he will live up to his breeding and get over distances of 2000 metres and beyond.
She compared him favourably to Mahtoum who she trained to win the 2005 Sydney Cup.
“He is the best horse I’ve had since Mahtoum,” Waugh said.
“And a lot of the owners who were in Mahtoum are in this horse too which makes it even better.
“From day one he showed me plenty.
“He is a really special horse.”
AAP TURF