Ocean Knight defied a betting drift to register an impressive debut win at Caulfield.
Coming from back in the field, Ocean Knight stormed down the outside to take out the Wellington R.C Handicap (1200m) on Saturday.
Drifting from $5 out to $8.50, Ocean Knight, under Regan Bayliss, raced away over the final 100m to defeat Sizzleme ($11) by 2-3/4 lengths with Dark Villain ($21) a long-neck away third.
Lindsay Park co-trainer Tom Dabernig said he wasn’t surprised by the win of Ocean Knight, a son of 2012 Cox Plate winner Ocean Park.
He said the plan was to let the speed go, get to the outside and run on.
Dabernig said he was impressed by the colt’s turn of foot.
“We’ve always liked him and being by Ocean Park we didn’t think he’d be a two-year-old,” Dabernig said.
“But this preparation he’s done very well in his jumpouts and this looked a nice race for him.
“We went in with medium expectation, thinking he’d hit the line, but he hit the line a bit stronger than all the others.”
Dabernig said Ocean Knight was likely to have his next start in the Listed Anzac Day Stakes (1400m) at Flemington.
Ocean Knight’s win completed an early two-state double for Lindsay Park after Futooh won the China Horse Club Mile in Sydney.
