Fontelina On His Way To TJ Smith After Winning The Pheonix

Anthony Cummings

Anthony Cummings will target Fontelina at the Group 1 TJ Smith after winning The Pheonix at Doomben

Fontelina has posted a dominant win in the Listed The Phoenix at Doomben Racecourse today.

The two-year-old colt won the race convincingly ahead of Lucky Morna, who finished second, and Cindarockinrella, who held on for third.

It was the first win for the Testa Rossa colt who finished second by half a length in his debut run at Canterbury on May 18.

Fontelina’s trainer, Anthony Cummings, was pleased to have gotten his first win for the colt’s owners.

“It’s a great win for the boys,” he said.

Cummings will now target Fontelina at the Group 1 TJ Smith for two-year-olds on June 11.

“(This was a) nice race to win and (especially) on our way to The TJ,” he said.

The trainer said that the horse is in perfect physical order and is a big feeder, but needs to mentally mature further.

“He’s got a better appetite than me,” Cummings said.

“(But) he’s still got quite a lot to learn.

“He’ll take a lot out of this race again.”

Jockey Luke Nolen, who rode Fontelina to his impressive win, agrees with Cummings.

“He’s still working it all out,” Nolen said.

Nolen feels that Fontelina has a bright career in front of him.

“I think he’s a horse that possesses a nice amount of ability,” he said.

The jockey is confident that the horse will be able to last out the longer 1,600 metres of the TJ Smith.

“He was very strong over the end of the 1350 there,” Nolen said.

Fontelina picked up $64,000 to add to his current prize money of $5,400 thanks to today’s win.

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