He is a rising five-year-old but the consensus is Firsthand still has plenty to learn despite maintaining his 50 per cent win record with victory at Rosehill.
Trained by Hawkes Racing, Firsthand won his fourth race from eight starts on Saturday and and his second from two starts for jockey Christian Reith who replaced Tommy Berry who was riding in Brisbane.
“I’ve only needed two rides on him to win two metropolitan races,” Reith said.
It was all in good fun as he and Berry are close friends and Reith said Firsthand had shown improvement from the last time he rode him in November.
“He was still quite raw but he was more tractable today,” he said.
“He was beaten at the 50 (metres) and dug deep and fought back.”
Firsthand was the well supported favourite with Sportsbet, firming from $4.20 to $3.60, and beat Wild ‘N’ Famous ($5) by a head in a deceptive finish with the pair wide apart on the track.
Co-trainer Michael Hawkes said the stable had been patient with Firsthand and although he had always shown ability, he needed time to mature mentally.
