Higher Ground has dipped his head at the right moment to beat stable mate Tangled in a photo finish to the Group 3 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
There was good support for the So You Think colt in the hours leading up to jump and he was taken back from the rails draw by jockey Glyn Schofield; allowing Savvy Ken, Dissolution and Yuralla Boy dictate early terms on-pace.
Enjoying a carefree run in transit back in the pack, Schofield allowed the horse plenty of time to balance in the straight before going for the whip, and he was rewarded for the decision when the horse mustered a big turn of foot and absolutely savaged the line.
It was a few minutes until the result was confirmed, but the Frank Packer Plate victory has stamped Higher Ground as a serious Queensland Derby prospect, which will run at Doomben Racecourse on June 9th.
Schofield was pleased with the horse’s performance and is confident that he will only improve off the run.
“He’s taken a big step here today, this fella,” Schofield said after the race.
“Obviously Chris has had some plans for him for a long time and it was nice to see him show a little bit of fight and get there.
“He’s have a good blow. I thought when he changed his leads with 100m to go, he was just going to surge and run away from it, but the second horse has obviously got Group form behind it and we’re just tackling this class for the first time.
“It’s hard to get away from those horses that have performed at the top level, so a great performance.”
Race favourite Holy Snow ran credibly to finish third in the Frank Packer Plate, while Icon Of Dubai ran on well to finish a close-up fourth.