On Thursday night at Pakenham Simon wheeled out his latest prized import from the UK, Maktoob, who kicked off his Australian campaign with a bang. A maiden winner over 1900m in the UK, the horse was identified and snapped up by astute bloodstock agent Cameron Cooke late last year.
With Blaike McDougall engaged to ride, Maktoob jumped from an awkward alley and was forced to go back and take his medicine. The speed was quite genuine and rounding the home turn he was able to tack onto the back of the well backed Patrick Payne trained favourite who was under pressure and cruised straight past him in the blink of an eye. it was only a Class 1 at Pakenham, the win was stamped with authority and class as he looped the field with ease to streak away to win by 3 lengths untouched. As a veteran of only four starts, he still has a little bit to learn and plenty of improvement left in him.
Congratulations to the ownership group who are all very dedicated clients of the stable and we are looking forward to what’s in store for this horse going forward. There’s plenty of options for him over the next few weeks and we’ll look to try and take him through the grades.
A special mention to our up and coming strapper Michael Blomely who strapped his first winner for the stable after an unlucky run of 13 placings!
