 Top class three-year-old North Boy is likely to front up against
the best sprinters in the country next start after returning to the winner's stall in the
Manfred Super Vobis Handicap (1200m) at Caulfield today.The three quarter length win was full of merit as the gelding wanted to lay out
for much of the home straight never seeming to be comfortable on the track.
"He's never done anything like it before,"
winning trainer Tony McEvoy said about the laying out by his classy performer.
 "Mark (Zahra) said he
felt as though he got the tongue over the bit and he came back with a displaced palate so
it looks as though that is what might have happened."
"So really the win was full of merit," McEvoy
added.
It was North Boy's first win in six starts and his first at
his third attempt at the track.
McEvoy said after the win that the son of Rory's Jester
would "probably" head to the Newmarket Handicap.
"The race looks as though it will suit him. He should
get a pretty light weight and he loves the straight track at Flemington," McEvoy
said.
 The stable wasn't too
disappointed with his first up effort when he finished a 3.3 length eighth in his first up
run in the Lightning Stakes.
"I wasn't too disappointed with his run in the
Lightning. The others were just a bit too sharp for him on the day," McEvoy added.
In the run to the line Zahra was able to get North Boy
($1.70-$2.25 fav) home by three parts of a length over the promising Colin Alderson
trained galloper Walk On Air ($4.2-$7). Bust Up ($21-$26) was a further neck away in third
place.
PICS - Quentin
Lang. |
