Victory by two-year-old filly Nicconi Leggera has set her rookie trainer Chris Munce on the path to completing two of his goals for the season.
The champion jockey hung up his saddle in January 2015 to embark on his new career.
He set himself the goal to finish in the top 10 Brisbane trainers this season and to build a team of young horses capable of winning stakes races.
At her first start on Saturday at Doomben, Nicconi Leggera showed explosive pace from the barrier to win over 1050 metres.
Munce has no doubt she will get at least 1400m and even up to the 1600m of the Group One J J Atkins Stakes in June.
“She has a great deal of improvement in her. We wanted her fresh for the race and she had had only one barrier trial,” Munce said.
“The others were smart horses but they had race experience and she is the one I would expect to improve the most.
“There is a way to go yet and I am not getting ahead of myself. But Nicconi Leggera has stakes horse written all over her. I have a few more promising young horses coming through so things look OK.”
Nicconi Leggera’s win gave Munce his 10th metropolitan winner for the season, moving him to equal 10th in the premiership.
“There are a lot of good trainers here but I aim to be up there with them and hopefully I will stay in the top bracket for a long time,” he said.
Nicconi Leggera is by Group One performer Nicconi out of Idesa Bay who has produced three other winners including stakes-placed Melbourne mare Cerberus Gal.
“The Golden Slipper winner Danzero is in Nicconi Leggera’s bloodlines and she comes from a strong family,” Munce said.
