Peter Moody and syndicator Wylie Dalziel put their necks on the line when they purchased Gates at a Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
The son of Frankel, a close relation to stayer Mirage Dancer that third in the 2019 Caulfield Cup, and won The Metropolitan in Sydney, was a $950,000 purchase by the pair in 2022.
Gates had his third start on Wednesday when taking out the Ladbrokes Bet Ticker Plate (1500m) to show his trainer he may be a stayer with potential.
Ridden by Luke Nolen , Gates ($8) registered a three-quarter length first-up win from Binotto ($4.40) with Life Sentence ($9) a head away third.
Gates still has a long way to go to recoup his purchase price, and while he is still a colt, Moody suggested his future may be as a gelding.
Moody said both he and Dalziel had put their own âmanhoodâ on the line if they did not secure a result with Gates.
While Wednesdayâs victory was at 1500m and first-up, Moody said the colt has staying potential.
âHeâs always indicated that heâs going to be a nice staying horse,â Moody said.
âHe hasnât got a lot of brilliance, but he can maintain a good gallop.
âHeâs the type of horse that you will probably see in a 2000-metre next time and ridden the same way.
âHe will stay all day and I think he will have a bit of quality coming through as a stayer.â
Moody said the Group 3 Caulfield Classic (2000m) on October 21 could potentially be the next outing for Gates who could progress to the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington two weeks later.
Gates had two starts as a two-year-old over 1300m and 1400m in May before being spelled.
âHeâs furnished and grown up a bit, but we didnât give him a long time away because he is such a big horse, and we were mindful of that while keeping him an entire,â Moody said.
âHeâs a nice progressive horse that can build on that and he could go to the Caulfield Classic in a monthsâ time at 2000 metres and see if we can build off it again, to something like the Derby.
âIâve got the timing, but thatâs the type of horse he is, whether itâs this time or in the autumn.
âBut we can get some more work into him, so Iâm not ruling it out.â