Trainer Nick Ryan will consider a trip to Queensland with Highvol after the gelding made a winning return to form at Caulfield.
Highvol had been winless since scoring at his first two starts as a two-year-old before taking the Tobin Brothers Celebrating Lives Handicap (1600m) on Saturday.
Riding the speed throughout under Jamie Mott, Highvol ($16) got the bob in on the line to score by a nose from Tarntanya ($18) with Himalayan ($5.50) in third place.
Highvol won the Listed Anzac Day Stakes (1400m) at Flemington as a two-year-old and Ryan was planning an assault on a Brisbane winter campaign with the gelding.
Unfortunately, Highvol fell sick which ruled out a trip north and instead Ryan concentrated on a spring campaign.
After a closing fourth in the Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley, Ryan set his sights on the Victoria Derby with the three-year-old.
“He had a frustrating spring,” Ryan said.
“He ran super in the Stutt second-up, flying home, against these types of horses.
“He then almost won a Geelong Classic, and we pushed on to the Derby, but it flattened him a lot and I was very mindful of that and hence we didn’t rush him back for the autumn.
“I went and looked at him and said to the owners to give him some more time because he was quite tired after the Derby.
“He was second-up today. They went very slow last time, and he’s no good off a slow tempo, and when they sprinted, they left him flat-footed.”
Following that first-up run at Sandown last month, Ryan said he had poured the work into Highvol to have him fitter to run out a tough 1600m.
“I said to Motty that I had screwed him down between runs and he’s at his best free rolling off a fast tempo and that’s what that was,” Ryan said.
“It was a bit of a dogfight late and he’s good in the soft, so there was a lot of positives.
“He’s a handy horse and he won his first two and we had plans to go to Queensland, but he got crook.
“He ticks the wet-track box, and he makes his own luck, so a trip to Queensland, anything is possible.”
