Kiwi five year old Deane Martin is on song for The Metropolitan after a resounding win in the Group 3 $125,000 Colin Stephen Quality (2400m) at Rosehill today.
Deane Martin will now head to The Metropolitan after winning the Colin Stephen Quality at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Deane Martin is now exempt from the ballot for the Group 1 $400,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick next Saturday after winning today and part owner Allen Peard said if he pulled up well would be heading to Randwick next week.
“All going well if he pulls up good he will probably go to the Metrop next week,” Peard said.
Peard said that Deane Martin was a versatile stayer and could handle any type of going.
“He is a pretty good all round horse, he has won on the slow and the hard and fast but preferably he would like a little jar out of the track,” Peard said.
“You have to be winning them over here and it’s hard if you’re not.”
New Zealand trainer Bruce Wallace had given Deane Martin two previous runs at Rosehill with today’s winning jockey Brenton Avdulla aboard and the Keeper gelding was a last start third to He’s Your Man in the Group 3 $125,000 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on September 13.
Avdulla had Deane Martin ($7) closer to the speed today and after travelling in third spot in the early stages let him stride to the front on the point of the home turn and held off the challengers of Iggi Pop ($8.50) and Celtic Prince ($5) to score by a long neck.
Equal favourites Travolota ($4.40) and Multilateral ($4.40) ran contrasting races to run fifth and sixth in the seven horse field.
The Gai Waterhouse trained Travolta set the pace and faded to be beaten one and half lengths while the Chris Waller trained Multilateral was never in the race and at one stage in the middle stages was four lengths behind the second last horse.
