Les Bridge blamed himself for the first-up defeat of Caesar Augustus but there was no such issue at Canterbury on Wednesday when the horse posted his maiden win.
The three-year-old was sent out favourite for his debut at Warwick Farm last month but struggled to gain traction on the heavy track and finished a well-beaten third.
“I shouldn’t have run him the other day. I didn’t think the track would be that heavy, I got ambushed there,” Bridge said.
While Canterbury was rain-affected it was only in the soft range and Caesar Augustus appreciated the better conditions to come from behind to score a half-head win over French Emotion in the Schweppes Plate (1100m).
Bridge said running Caesar Augustus in sprints was part of a plan to teach the horse racing manners.
“He wanted to go hard early so I thought I’d run him in a couple of short races to teach him to settle,” he said.
Winning jockey Tim Clark said the horse was starting to deliver on the promise he had shown at home and predicted a bright future.
“He’s settled down a lot, he’s doing a good job and in time you’ll see a pretty nice horse,” Clark said.
