Damien Oliver believes Sandown debut winner Draft Day has a bright future but is worried the spring may come up too soon.
The Leon and Troy Corstens-trained son of Tivaci was successful in the Ladbroke It! Plate (1200m) on Wednesday after over-coming a wide draw.
A little slow into stride, Oliver pushed Draft Day forward to take up a forward position before striking the lead early in the straight.
Draft Day ($8) held off a late challenge from Riverplate ($8.50) to score by a short-half-head with another debutant Prowling ($9) a further 1-½ lengths away third.
“It was a brave effort as he didn’t get any favours from the wide gate, but he did a good job to fight them off,” Oliver said.
“I’ve only just started working with him. I did his last trial and he gave me a nice feel.
“It’s obviously a strong time of year but that appeared to be a reasonably strong maiden on paper.
“I’m not sure how high a level he can reach in the spring, but I’m sure in time he’s going to develop into a very nice horse.”
Dom Sutton, representing the father-and-son training partners, said Draft Day had shown the stable promise on the track, adding he was a slow maturing type.
He added the stable had not given up hope of getting Draft Day to the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 9.
“He still looked pretty raw out there being on and off the bridle coming around the home bend, but I’m sure Troy will sit down and map out a plan now,” Sutton said.
“We’re hoping he will get out to a mile and maybe the Guineas, or races like that if we think he’s going to take us there.
“He’s got plenty of natural speed, so we’ll utilise that and there’s plenty of good races around for these three-year-olds, so we’ll likely look towards those heading into the spring.”
