The 2000m three-year-old race on this Flemington fixture has been a good pointer to Derbies in past years, and Thedoctoroflove could potentially target a staying feature in the coming months.
Bold Soul and Dunkel have won this race in the past two years before winning next month’s Listed Tasmanian Derby (2200m), while Dunkel then went on to win the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m).
By So You Think and ridden by Daniel Moor, Thedoctoroflove ($11) ran on strongly to grab $4.20 betting sites favourite Sigiriya Rock to score by half a length, with 3-½ lengths back to Colour Our World ($5) in third, and stable representative Trent Murphy was buoyed by the performance.
“That was always the plan, to just go back and let him hit the line. We’ve come here quietly confident today that he could get the job done. It was a reasonably strong field today, so he put him away quite easily, I thought,” Murphy said.
“He’s going to improve a lot from each run he has. He’ll get over a nice trip and he’s got a nice future in front of him.”
“As far as I know, he’ll find himself in a Derby somewhere, whether it be Sydney or Adelaide or New Zealand, I’m not sure,” Murphy said.
The Busuttin & Young stable have a penchant for producing Derby types, and jockey Daniel Moor, who won the 2008 Tasmanian Derby aboard Mega Boss, was happy to suggest the stable would be looking for a stakes race shortly.
“Well, assuming, knowing the stable, I’m sure we’ll be headed that way. But we’ve got a lot of important clients in this horse, he’s a nice horse. They’ve allowed us the time to develop him and hopefully we head towards that way and we reap some rewards along the way,” Moor said.
