STOWPORT thoroughbred trainer Kelvin Hamilton expects his lightly raced five-year-old mare to develop into a handy stayer, after all she is related to recent Caulfield Cup winner Mongolian Khan.
Big Pegg (Incumbent-Centaquest) delivered a brilliant performance last night in Launceston to win a maiden handicap over 1400 metres and Hamilton is sure it is just a stepping stone to wins over more ground later in the season.
“She is out of a mare that is a daughter of the dam of Mongolian Khan so Big Pegg is in effect a niece of Mongolian Khan’s,” Hamilton said.
“She’s never going to reach the heights that horse has reached so far but she is bred to stay and I’ll be aiming her at the 2100-metre races as soon as she is fit enough,” he said.
Big Pegg was having her fourth start this time in and settled well back in the field with in-form jockey Ismail Toker aboard.
The favourite Ruby Heart ($2.25) led and set a solid tempo while the second-elect Olly’s A Star trailed the leader with the well-backed Chelsarli ($18 into $11) content to race outside of the leader.
When the favourite started to wilt Olly’s A Star was eased off the fence by Anthony Darmanin and looked set to win but then Big Pegg arrived on the scene and powered home to defeat Olly’s A Star with outsider Dance South flashing home to finish third.