Mark Kavanagh believes he has an exciting prospect on his hands after three-year-old Ellis Park lived up to his trainer’s expectations on debut at Sandown.
Ellis Park stepped out in Monday’s Clanbrooke Racing Plate (1300m) and after racing outside the leader under Craig Williams, he put the race beyond doubt in the straight to win by 1-1/4-lengths.
“He’s the real deal. We’ll just see how far he takes us,” Kavanagh said.
The son of Dissident out of Springbok Girl was knocked down to Kavanagh for $170,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in 2018 and the trainer said he had given him time before unveiling him at the races.
He was confident Ellis Park could make a winning start to his career on Monday and while it was only a maiden he believes there is plenty of improvement to come.
“He’s a ripping type of a horse,” Kavanagh said.
“We had to take our time with him but once we knew he was fair dinkum we cuddled him up. I never rush my horses anyway but we certainly cuddled him up and gave him every bit of time.
“He trialled up well and I put Craig on him and said there were a couple of maidens coming up, where do we go?
“We got together and chose this one.
“He’s very raw. He’s very green. But he did level them out and put them right away today. There’s a tonne of improvement in him.”
Ellis Park is not nominated for next month’s Australian Guineas for three-year-olds in Melbourne with Kavanagh saying that would come too soon.
The trainer said he may look at a Brisbane winter campaign or races in Adelaide later in the season and he believes he will stretch out to at least 2000m.
Another three-year-old Sandown winner, Think ‘N’ Fly, is likely to be tested in the Group Two Autumn Classic (1800m) and Group Two Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) later this campaign.
The Lindsay Park-trained colt won Monday’s The Big Screen Company Handicap (1600m) to make it three wins from five starts.
