News Article

Antumbra shows promise with maiden win

29 / 10 / 2014 Article by: TR Internal
Antumbra (David Pires) defeats Flying Stevie (Brendon McCoull) in Maiden 1220m in Launceston icon Click to enlarge

LIGHTLY raced four-year-old Antumbra gave his owners a glimpse of things to come when he powered his way to an impressive maiden win over 1220 metres at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston tonight (Wednesday).

It was the gelding’s third start and first from a lengthy spell.

Trainer Scott Brunton said Antumbra was purchased for $40,000 at the Adelaide Magic Millions yearling sale.

“He’s a very good type but he still does a lot wrong,” Brunton said.

“We put blinkers on him, which have helped, and I told David (Pires) to ride him aggressively early and try to stay in touch.”

Pires followed the instructions to the letter and Antumbra just managed to get home just in advance of odds-on favourite Flying Stevie with Must Confess third.

Antumbra had only one start at each of his two previous preparations.

“He was just big and dumb so we had to give him time,” Brunton said.

“He’s been a slow process but we’ve got a good result for the owners tonight.”

Brunton and Pires had a treble on the board after the first five races, courtesy of them also combining with Ritzy Bar in the opening race on the eight-event card and talented mare Spun Sugar that led all the way to make it back-to-back wins on the Launceston circuit.