Fireburn’s younger half-brother Kintyre has laid down an important spring marker with his gallant victory in the opening race at Rosehill.
Trainer Gary Portelli said it was imperative the three-year-old turned in a competitive performance in Saturday’s Inglis Pink Bonus Handicap (1300m) to give him the confidence to press forward with his black-type plans, and the gelding didn’t disappoint.
While his racing manners weren’t perfect in the early and middle stages, Kintyre ($8.50) made up for it with his strength at the finish, overhauling Rockabilly Rebel ($51) by a long neck with the luckless Caballus ($1.90 boombet fav) another short half-head away third.
“What he did there at the backend just shows us we’re on the right path,” Portelli said.
“He’s a quirky horse, I know he’s got something there and today was a pretty handy field.
“He did a lot wrong in the middle stages and was strong at the right end of the race.
“I think he’ll get out to 2000 metres eventually, so who knows, the Spring Champion Stakes is a race I’d like to look at with him.”
Kintyre went into Saturday’s race second-up after finishing runner-up against the older horses when he resumed over 1300m at Newcastle last month.
Portelli is yet to lock in a spring program for the gelding but says he is likely to follow a traditional path through the Dulcify Quality and Gloaming Stakes.
“I wanted to see that today because we’re dreaming if he can’t keep up with these horses,” Portelli said.
“He will want to be stronger again as we step up but there’s improvement left in him for sure.
“We will sit down now and work out the program. We just needed to see if we were on the right path or if we were going back to Goulburn. We’re not going back to Goulburn.”
The Chris Waller-trained Caballus started a well-supported favourite but after being tardy to jump, he was strung up behind runners in the straight, eventually getting to the outside and finishing strongly once clear to just miss.
“He cost himself at the start and as a result it made it hard for him to get out from where he was,” Waller said.
