On a miserable day at Warwick Farm, trainer Chris Waller has found another Group One prospect to smile about.
Sizzling Bullet overcame a sodden track to win a 1600m maiden for three-year-olds on Wednesday.
After only beating one runner home on debut over 1100m at the same track on August 3, Sizzling Bullet ($12) relished the step up in distance to win by 1-3/4 lengths from Royal Navy ($3.40) with Our Belisa ($4.80) a further 4-1/2 lengths away third.
Waller said Sizzling Bullet was likely to run in the Group Three Gloaming Stakes (1800m) at Rosehill on September 24.
“That would be a nice sort of lead-up into a Spring Champion,” Waller said.
The Group One Spring Champion Stakes is over 2000m at Randwick on October 8.
Waller said the Snitzel colt’s pedigree – his dam Hollow Bullet won the 2004 Victoria Oaks – made him likely to handle longer distances.
In driving rain on a heavy track, jockey Hugh Bowman had Sizzling Bullet third before opening up a significant gap on most of the six-horse field in the straight.
“The strong pace helped him to get into a nice rhythm,” Bowman said.
“I was in the right spot and he worked home nicely.”
Waller said he had been wary about the sharp rise in distance, but the horse did everything right.
“It was a polished display,” he said.
“We got Hugh Bowman aboard to help and obviously the staff at home do a lot of work behind the scenes getting the horses to switch off and settle which is a big key to winning races.”
Sizzling Bullet, who races in Vinery Stud’s green and white silks, is another horse which typifies the stable’s emphasis on three-year-olds over producing horses at two.
“When these two-year-olds turn three, their distances are changing,” Waller said.
“You can basically throw two-year-old form to some degree out of the window and look out for the rising three-year-olds.
“He is one of them.”
Waller and Bowman scored a winning double when Dinghu Mountain won the 1400m benchmark race half an hour later.
