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Highly regarded three-year-old colt Argenteus wins Casino Prince @ Vinery Handicap at Canterbury Park.
The $50,000, ATC Casino Prince @ Vinery Handicap (1250m) at Canterbury Park in Sydney saw two highly regarded three-year-old colts fight out a thrilling finish when Argenteus (by Written Tycoon) got the better of the debuting Private Cheetah (by Pierro) to open up his winning account at race start No. 6.
Sent to post equal $3.80 favourites, the closing stages of the contest very much reflected betting on the race when two very progressive young colts turned a regulation midweek metropolitan contest into an enthralling spectacle.
Asked to lead after breaking smartly at his first race appearance, Private Cheetah looked likely to make all on debut when travelling strongly under a confident Tim Clark ride.
However, Argenteus was ultimately to win the day, finishing strongly under a typically vigorous Nash Rawiller drive after having basically stalked the leader from the outset.
Pretty Good (NZ) (by Savabeel), another well-bred debutant, claimed third with a more than satisfactory performance in the Waikato Stud colours.
Purchased as a yearling for $900,000 and raced by James Harron Bloodstock Colts, Mrs B C Bateman, Love Racing, Mr P Mehrten, Doyles Breeding & Racing, Mr S N Gillard, G1G Racing & Breeding, Mr D Saab, Rockingham Thoroughbreds, Mr J A Ingham, Mrs F A Ingham & Mr J E Baxter, Argenteus had contested the Skyline (G2), Pago Pago (G3) and Baillieu (G3) as a 2-year-old to no avail.
Two subsequent failures in Kembla Grange maidens since resuming saw him come into today's assignment still looking to salute the judge.
Given a perfect ride by Rawiller, the Written Tycoon knuckled down the task with a great deal of determination, defeating a newcomer with what appears to be considerable untapped ability.
Runner-up Private Cheetah went into the contest hoping to give the newly-formed training team of John & Gary Moore its first city victory and got within a whisker of achieving the feat.
A strapping son of Pierro with abundant natural speed, Private Cheetah virtually lead everywhere but the post and put down an outstanding marker for the rest of his campaign as well as his longer-term career ahead.
Official margins on the race were a Head x Two-and-a-quarter lengths.
SPs were $3.80 co-favourites Argenteus and Private Cheetah, and $7.00 Pretty Good.
Winning time was 1m13.51s (last 600m in 35.74s) on a Slow 5 track.
