Winx stole the headlines at The Valley on Saturday, but Robbie Laing’s Stars of Carrum stole a win in the final race of the day.
Originally entering at a starting price of $51.00, the colt out of Fiorente raced down the outside to nab $1.80 favourite Savoie at the line in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m).
It was a win reminiscent of Stars of Carrum’s dad, but most importantly, it highlighted the dazzling turn of foot the young three-year old possesses.
“This horse has developed a very electric sprint toward’s the finish, very similar to Fiorente” Laing told RSN on Monday morning.
“If you watch Fiortente fly home and win the Feehan over a mile, you would have thought he was the same horse on Saturday.”
In almost identical fashion to Fiorente’s win in 2013, Stars of Carrum moved wide around the bend to surprise Savoie with less than 50m to run. A fortunate head bob secured the win, and also saw Laing’s promising young runner firm from $31.00 into $11.00 with Ladbrokes ahead of this weekend’s Victoria Derby (2500m).
“He’s a very tough colt, he thrived during the week, he’s an exciting colt, beaten in a maiden only two starts back, didn’t quite know how to finish off, but the penny has dropped very quickly” Laing went on to say.
Having secured his first career win in just his second Group 2 appearance, Laing always thought Stars of Carrum was a chance on Saturday.
“His run before was a Group 3 in Adelaide, he come from last and got beaten in a developed print, that was probably a certainty beaten, I was pretty confident he’d win.”
If all things go according to plan, Stars of Carrum will butt heads once again with Savoie this Saturday in the Derby. Darren Weir’s three-year old is on the second line of betting at $8.00 with Ladbrokes, while the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott trained Thinkin’ Big leads the way at $3.00.