Verdoux posts impressive Caulfield win

Verdoux claims victory at Caulfield

Baystone Farm alumni Verdoux proved to be a smart winner of the opening event on a triple Group 1 program at Caulfield when landing the MRC Whispering Angel Handicap (1100m) by virtue of a scintillating finishing burst.

Ridden back in the field in a nine-horse affair with a wall of horses in front of him turning into the Caulfield straight, the talented son of Trapeze Artist quickened in the stylish fashion to record his third win from just nine career starts for the Leon & Troy Corstens and Will Larkin stable.

Bought by Baystone Farm as an Inglis Classic yearling, Verdoux displayed considerable promise in a sequence of jump-outs before even having his first race start. The gelding has now won or placed in eight of his nine raceday appearances and was beautifully prepared by the Corstens’ and Larkin stable for his first-up assignment.

Speaking after the win, co-trainer Will Larkin stated: “It was good to see him do that. I thought he got a little bit too far back there and he was just trying to pick off runs, but he was always going to be strong late.

“He’s come back well. I didn’t know how he was going to run, based on the way he looks. He’s still a long way off in the coat and he’s got a lot of fitness improvement to come as well. I thought he’d run well, [I] just couldn’t be as confident as we would’ve liked to be.

“He’s in for a big prep ahead, he’s always shown us a lot of ability.”

Ridden to perfection by Ben Allen, the winning jockey was delighted with the outcome despite very little going as expected.

“The plan was to hopefully begin well and hold a spot,” Allen began to explain. “He jumped well but he just didn’t have the toe to go with them, so I rode him quiet, [and] popped off the fence early to follow Jamie [Melham] through.

“We had one outside him so [I] just had to be patient, but we were able to build even though we were kind of held up. He was too tough.”

Immediate plans for Verdoux are relatively fluid. As co-trainer Will Larkin put it: “Because we’ve known that he’s got so much improvement, we haven’t really put anything in the future for him just yet. But when they win like that and there’s plenty more to come, I think we can start to map something out.”

Verdoux is a member of Baystone Farm’s ‘Class of 2022’ — graduates prepared for that year’s ready-to-run sales. Besides Saturday’s very smart Melbourne metropolitan winner, the contingent also included unbeaten Lotus Tower; five-time Aus-Singapore winner Ravalli; and, the highly-rated Hong Kong performer call Me Glorious.