Ciaron Maher and David Eustace have unearthed another talented import in Chorlton Lane, who they hope can continue to surge through the grades after his classy Rosehill win.
The UK import made his Australian debut in Saturday’s Kia Ora Farnan Handicap (1300m) and despite getting a long way out of his ground then being briefly held up in the straight, Chorlton Lane ($3.30 Ladbrokes fav) produced a dynamic finish to overhaul Plundering ($3.60) by a neck.
Amor Victorious ($7) was another 1-1/4 lengths away third.
The winner ran his final 600m sectional in a slick 32.98s, and stable representative Johann Gerard-Dubord said the performance was the tip of the iceberg.
“Everything he has been doing he has been doing well,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“We only work them on the bridle, we don’t know how good he could be. He is very progressive, there is plenty more to come and he’s got the right attitude which will take him a long way.
“He’s lightly raced, he’d only had two starts before today, but he just wants to please in everything he does and that was a good starting point for him.”
Chorlton Lane managed a win and placing from his only appearances in England before he was bought by Australian interests.
He did the groundwork for his latest campaign in Victoria where he showed encouraging signs in his jump outs, the stable opting to send him north in search of firmer ground.
“He came up with a good base, they’d done a great job with him,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“He galloped on Tuesday morning and he galloped very well.
“He’s a beautiful horse, he’s got a lovely action on him and a touch further won’t hurt him.”
Chorlton Lane is likely to push on during the winter in a bid to raise his benchmark rating high enough to get into better races down the track.
The three-year-old provided the first leg of an early Rosehill double for Maher and Eustace with Semana justifying her odds-on favouritism to take out The Agency Real Estate Handicap (1400m) 35 minutes later.
