Trainer Cliff Brown describes himself as the world’s biggest pessimist, but he is hoping for a successful spring with former Singapore star The Inferno.
Brown says The Inferno is potentially the best horse he has trained and believes the sprinter could be a contender in Australia’s richest race, The Everest (1200m) at Randwick in October.
The Inferno took out the Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m) at The Valley on Saturday at his second start in Australia to provide Brown with his second winner since relocating to Mornington in May.
The five-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor won eight of his nine starts in Singapore and was one of the reasons Brown and his family returned to Australia.
“I said to a few close mates, I’ve got a great mate in Singapore, Denis, that I think he’s the best horse that I’ve ever had and to come back and do this is great,” Brown said.
“I think he could be an Everest horse. The beauty of him is he likes firm, he likes soft. I think he could be that sort of smokey for that race.”
Ridden by Damian Lane, The Inferno ($6) sat back off the speed before unleashing a strong finish to score by a length from the $2.50 favourite Portland Sky with September Run ($4) a nose away third.
The Inferno made his Australian debut finishing sixth in the Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on August 14 where Brown said he had the gelding too big in condition for that race.
“I really mucked that first start up, I really did,” Brown said.
“I had him too big. I had to go away and look at all my notes and what I’d done and everything like that and there was plenty of improvement, plenty of things I had to change.
“I just hadn’t done enough work with him, and I then had to get him to settle back in his training, learn to chase again and work through the line.”
Brown said he would see how The Inferno recovers from Saturday’s race before deciding on a path that may lead to a start in The Everest.
