Perseverance pays off for Furlong with sharp 3YO

[Wandering Eyes]

Riccarton trainer Anna Furlong felt a real sense of satisfaction when her promising three-year-old Champagne Diblu turned his form around to win the Agraforum Growing Innovation 1300 at Ashburton on Sunday.

Champagne Diblu had been an impressive juvenile trial winner and subsequently contested a stakes race, but showed his inexperience on that occasion and was sent for a spell. It was a similar story for the gelding when resuming at three, travelling well in the running but fading in the straight in a big field.

Knowing the ability he had, Furlong went back to the trials twice to instil some confidence and with regular rider Billy Jacobson on board, he was a live chance in a small field headed by Dakota and last-start winner The Fed Express.

He flew the gates and found himself in front early, before Jacobson allowed The Fed Express to cross and lead. The pace was only moderate from that point and the leader dialled up the pressure turning for home, giving his rivals something to catch.

Champagne Diblu looked the big danger of doing so and started to go through his gears down the straight, taking over at the 150m and keeping up a strong gallop through the line to score by a length, with Knockingatthedoor closing gamely into second.

“He’s just been a little bit immature mentally, he’s taken a bit of time to get that ringcraft so we’ve gone back to the trials to really drive home that education,” Furlong said. “We wanted to see him working up in between horses and gaining that confidence amongst the field.

“It was potentially going to be a tactical affair with the small field but we didn’t want to lead, I was just looking for nice, calm run to get into a good rhythm and really hit the line, which he did.

“Billy has done a lot of work with him, both at the trials and at home so it was really satisfying to get this result.

“We always knew he had the ability, it was just coaxing it out of him. It couldn’t have gone better.”

Furlong is now eyeing a start for the gelding during her home track’s biggest carnival, New Zealand Cup Week, which is fast approaching in three weeks’ time.

“We’d like to give him a start over Cup Week, I’m leaning towards the three-year-old 1400m at this stage,” she said. “He’s probably going to be nicer again in the autumn with a little bit more time on his side.”

A son of Russian Revolution and the Lonhro mare Rosadiblu, Champagne Diblu was purchased by the stable for $100,000 out of Kilgravin Lodge’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale last November and was syndicated out to a big group of owners, many of which were on course at Ashburton.

“He’s a fantastic type, he had good scope about him and we thought he’d develop into a nice sprinter-miler that will improve over time,” Furlong said.

“When we bought him, we wanted to introduce micro-shares to get as many people involved as we could for a really low cost, making it more affordable to come and enjoy racing with us. We got a great response from that and as you could hear on the telly, there were a lot of happy owners.

“It was super exciting, it’s great to have that many people involved in racing and wonderful for our stable.”

Later in the meeting, Furlong was pleased with her Impending filly Queen Of Sheba, who was just caught in the final bounds on debut over 1200m, and The Entertainer, who continued her consistent run when third in the Rating 75 mile.

“She (Queen Of Sheba) was really good, a good effort first up on debut,” she said. “I’d like to see her settle a little more in the running so she can finish off her races, but it was a gallant effort and she’ll improve a tonne off that.

“The Entertainer is a very honest mare, I thought she had every chance to win and Ruvanesh (Muniandy) rode her very well, but she just plugged a little bit in the finish. She may be looking to get over a little bit more ground now, we’ll have a think about that one.”

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