A Group Three sprint could be on Splurge's agenda following a hard-fought Rating 85 win at Ellerslie (yesterday).
The well-bred son of Savabeel rose through the grades with three impressive wins in succession in the second half of 2016, then ran a fast-finishing second to Volks Lightning at Trentham three weeks ago.
In Saturday's Ophthalmic Instrument Company 1200 he raced in midfield and appeared to be battling in the wet ground as the pace went on approaching the home turn. But Danielle Johnson got the best out of her mount in the straight, lifting gamely in the last 300 metres and getting the better of Hollywood Lass to win by a neck. The time was 1:11.81, more than a second faster than the Rating 65 horses in race one.
“He's a horse who just keeps stepping up every time he goes to the races,†co-trainer Jamie Richards said. “That was a good win today. He looked a bit flat at the 600 and probably wasn't at home in the ground, but he came home well and got up. That's the sign of a good horse.
“He's only lightly raced and he'll continue to improve. He could go straight into the Darley Plate now.â€
The $100,000 Gr. 3 Darley Plate, over the same course and distance as today's race, will be run during the New Zealand Derby meeting on March 4.
That would be a black-type debut for the four-year-old Splurge, who has now had nine starts for five wins, two placings and more than $67,000 in prize-money for the Te Akau 2014 Breeding Syndicate.
Bought for $500,000 at Karaka by David Ellis, Splurge is out of the Group One-performed O'Reilly mare Splashing Out - a three-quarter sister to Sacred Falls, and the dam of stakes winner Shopaholic and black-type placegetters Packing Pins and Spending.