Master Ash has made a perfect transition to black type company by winning the Group 3 Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
The Sebring colt only broke his maiden in a 1250m race Canterbury last month, but he has continued to improve as Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott have raised the bar and he was particularly impressive to the line this afternoon.
Jockey Tim Clark allowed the colt to stride forward after jumping well and took an ideal position in transit on the heels of early leaders Danawi, Military Zone and Smart Elissim across the back straight.
Enjoying a carefree run in transit, Master Ash was offered clear running upon arriving at the final straight and never looked in doubt; mustering an impressive turn of foot to comfortably beat Danawi, Smart Elissim and Irukandji to the line.
Clark was glowing in his praise for the three-year-old and revealed that he was confident the horse would run a big race after partnering him in work.
“This is only his first prep. It’s funny, I rode him one morning two or three months ago just at three-quarter (pace) and he just gave me a great feel,” he said.
“From that day I’ve pestered Gai and Adrian to ride him and I got on him and trialled him, and he won well second start in a race at Canterbury and he did a good job the other day against Matty Dunn’s horse (The Fire Trap).
“He’s just improved so much in the last five weeks, he’s just gone ahead and worked extremely well on Saturday morning apparently and I rode him here on Tuesday morning and he just felt unbelievable.
“I was very confident he’d run a big race. He gave me a lovely ride throughout, I travelled up and he had that fitness on his side, so he put it to them a bit early. It sorted them out a bit and he was really strong late.”
The plan to ride leading contender Military Zone on-pace appeared to backfire when he tired late in the Up And Coming Stakes, while both Irukandji and Encryption will take plenty of benefit from the hit-out and will enjoy a rise in trip.