A step up in class beckons for Stonebrook after he easily extended his unbeaten record in winning at Canterbury.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Hinchinbrook gelding made it four wins from as many starts in beating Dalmatia Prince by five lengths in the McGrath Estate Agents Handicap (1550m).
A $1.65 favourite, Stonebrook powered clear under Adam Hyeronimus to confirm his promise.
“We keep asking him to take that next step and he keeps improving,” Bott said.
“In the last few races he hasn’t quite been able to put them away but today he was really able to build into the race, quicken and run strongly through the line,” Bott said,
Stonebrook had not previous raced over at further than 1250m and Bott was delighted he handled the step up in trip.
“We always thought he would be a strong miler so it was good to actually see him run that out so strongly,” Bott said.
“We haven’t made too many big plans with him because we want to keep taking small steps to give him confidence but we’ll see if we can step him up to a Saturday race,” Bott said.
The training partnership enjoyed a Canterbury doublenwhen Madonnica broke through at her sixth start.
Her win came a week after she was late scratching due to a traffic jam on her way to the races at Warwick Farm.
“We gave her a good amount of time in the paddock to help her strengthen up because last prep she didn’t have the strength to sustain a run like that,” Bott said.
“She’s probably not a carnival prospect for us so we wanted to time her run so she was getting up and going once the carnival’s finished and she can race over summer.”
Madonnica ($12) set the tempo throughout with apprentice Rachel King and held off the chasers to hit the line a half length clear of Swaffham Bulbeck ($7).
