Crosshaven moved a step closer to being a factor in the Caulfield Guineas with his strong win in the Exford Plate at Flemington.
Co-trainer Tom Dabernig described Crosshaven as an exciting three-year-old and said the 2020 Caulfield Guineas was the logical next step after his comfortable win.
Crosshaven appreciated a distance rise to 1400 metres on Saturday to post his third victory.
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“In his races over 1200 he’s always been just off the bridle so the step up in trip was good and to see him win like that today was so exciting,” Dabernig said.
Crosshaven’s only defeat from four starts was when he finished sixth behind Immortal Love at his previous run at Caulfield and Dabernig said the gelding would have gone close to winning but was checked in the closing stages.
His jockey Daniel Stackhouse agreed with Dabernig that the extra distance of the Exford Plate suited Crosshaven.
“He’s still a big, raw gelding so he’ll take great benefit from today, I think,” Stackhouse said.
“The plan was to take our time and get him into a really good rhythm. You can see that he’s still not stretching out a hundred per cent as he’s still learning what he’s doing.”
Crosshaven ($9) defeated Bartley ($4.80) by 1-1/2 lengths with Cherry Tortoni ($5.50) three-quarters of a length away third.
