Perth star Luckygray will be aimed towards his fourth Railway Stakes after scoring a gutsy first up win in the Group 3 $150,000 Del Basso Smallgoods – Roma Cup (1200m) at Belmont last Saturday.

Luckygray will be aimed towards his fourth Railway Stakes at Ascot after winning the Roma Cup at Belmont. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.

Luckygray was having his first run since running fourth in the Roma Cup twelve months ago but was still sent out the $3.10 favourite and didn’t let punters down with a late driving finish to record a quarter of a length win over Dawn Approach ($4) with Fuschsia Bandana ($5.50) a further three quarters of a length back in third spot.

Winning trainer Trevor Andrews said that Luckygray will have a couple more runs this campaign and then be put away before being prepared for a fourth Group 1 $1m Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot during the Perth Sumner Carnival.

Luckygray has contested three Railways Stakes for two wins in 2011 and 2013 and was also runner up to Mr Moet in 2012.

“He’ll go on to the next two then go out for a break and come back for a crack at a third Railway. We’ll assess his future after the summer carnival, depending on how he’s going,” Andrews told The West Australian.

The seven year old missed running in last year’s Railway Stakes because he was on the sideline due a leg injury but showed on Saturday he has completely recovered and will strip much fitter the next time he lines up.

“He’s going to improve fitness-wise out of sight. He only just fell in, but he hasn’t raced for a long time and the second horse was race fit,” Andrews said.

Luckygray has been one of the star gallopers to race in Perth over the last five years and as well as his two Railway Stakes wins at Group 1 level, the popular gray also took out the 2012 Group 1 $500,000 Kingston Town Classic (1800m) at Ascot and was also second in that race the following year.

From his thirty starts, Luckygray has visited the winner’s stall on fourteen occasions and his three Group 1 wins have greatly contributed to his overall prizemoney earnings of $2,679,525.