The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Ferrari Man had given a glimpse of his potential before breaking through for his maiden win at Bendigo.
After being winless at his first five starts in NSW, Ferrari Man was sent to the Melbourne stable of Waterhouse and Bott to score at Bendigo on Wednesday in a 1600m Maiden Plate.
It was the third Victorian start for Ferrari Man who had bumped into Elkington Road at his first run in Melbourne before Artzino got the better of him at Sandown on September 7.
Leading throughout under Jordan Childs, Ferrari Man, the $1.45 favourite, was in cruise-control throughout in scoring by six lengths from Naval Aviator ($9) with Warchime ($4.80) a further four lengths away third.
Rebecca Shanks, in charge of the Waterhouse and Bott team in Melbourne, said Ferrari Man was deserving of his victory on Wednesday.
“The two horses that have beaten him at his last two starts are clearly very good,” Shanks told racing.com.
“The first one has gone off and won at Flemington and the other one is heading to the Derby.
“It’s only fair that he ran second to them and has won well today.”
Shanks said Ferrari Man had previously done a lot wrong in both his trackwork and races and was slowly starting to put it together.
“In his early starts he had a tendency to over-race, even over 1000 metres, so it was really pleasing to see him come out here today and settle,” Shanks said.
“Over the mile a lot of the credit has to go to Jordie who rated the horse quite well.
“The instructions today were to roll along out front and to show how fit he is, and he definitely did that.
“It was encouraging to see him do the right things at his third start in Melbourne, so we’ll just let him go through his grade.”
Ferrari Man had too much horsepower for the rest of the field
