SMART by name and an even smarter performance.
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That is the upshot from the sizzling debut performance from the Brent Stanley-trained three-year-old Smart Horse at Kyneton Wednesday.
The Hong Kong-owned gelding, by Group 1 Australian Guineas winner Al Maher, might have been a little slower to get going than his trainer and jockey Mitch Aitken had liked, but he showed plenty of class and endurance to sprint away from his rivals in the straight to win by 5.2 lengths over 1200m.
Stanley said Smart Horse had 'improved a lot' since arriving at his Sutton Grange stable, after he was initially trained in Sydney by Mark Newnham.
"I think the further he goes (in distance) he will get a bit better," he said.
"He's raw ... and he will improve off that as well.
"He has had some jump-outs and done it pretty easily - a bit of race day speed is different.
"He did it a little bit tough, but he was a class above them."
The win of Smart Horse came less than a month after Stanley experienced success with another former Newnham galloper, Lucky Fish, at Morphettville.
It delivered the dual Group 3-winning trainer his 24th winner for the season.
Stanley said the gelding would now be aimed at three-year-old race on Golden Mile race day at Bendigo.
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