Jockey Robbie Fradd advised punters not to sack Rancho Montoya after the colt was beaten into second place as a short-priced favourite at Doomben.
Rancho Montonya ($2.10) got a rails run in the straight but after momentarily hitting the lead could not hold off Ilovevegas ($9.50) who went on to win by 1-1/2 lengths in the Variety 2YO (1350m).
Fradd said Rancho Montoya would be a nice horse once he got up in distance and didn’t have to be bustled early.
“He was a bit sluggish to jump at his first race start win and he was even more sluggish today. He is looking for 1600 metres now,” Fradd said.
Ilovevegas continued the great winning run for trainer Ben Currie and apprentice Matt McGillivray.
Currie increased his lead in the state title to claim his 95-1/2th win in Queensland and his 97-1/2th win overall.
“We got Ilovevegas from the Magic Millions sales last year and we have always had a big opinion of him,” Currie said.
“He isn’t showing much early pace now and we want to get him up to 1600 metres,” Currie said.
McGilivray, who has ridden 16 winners in the past four weeks, was impressed with the finishing effort of Ilovevegas.
“He got back to last but really finished strongly. He is going to be something over a bit more ground.” he said.
