Bendigo trainer Brendon Hearps appears to have another smart horse in his care after Zoutons broke its maiden in fine style at Sunday's Bendigo Jockey Club meeting.
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The son of Hearps' smart sprinting mare Umgeton, Zoutons had big wraps on him prior to his debut at Bendigo in the winter.
He ran thind on a heavy track on debut and pulled up with a case of the thumps.
He returned to the track on Sunday and punters didn't miss him.
Despite going into the 1000m event without a trial, Zoutons was heavily supported into odds-on favouritism.
With Noel Callow in the saddle, Zoutons lived up to expectations by running down the speedy Dana Point from the Brent Stanley yard.
Zoutons won in a slick time of 56.97 seconds.
"He's a nice horse,'' Hearps said of Zoutons.
"He never had a jump out because we thought we'd use this as a jump out. It worked out well."
After leading on debut, Hearps said Zoutons relished the opportunity to sit behind the speed at start two.
"Everybody seems to think he has to lead, but we've given him a couple of trials when he's more explosive, when he's fitter, sitting in behind them and letting down really good.
"He'll be right, he'll make the grade."
Hearps said he'll probably head to Melbourne with Zoutons over summer.
"We'll look at the Valley and those sort of races for him,'' he said.
Dana Point opened favourite on the back of some impressive trial performances.
A $350,000 purchase at the Magic Millions sales, Dana Point lost no admirers in the run.
The filly was taking on older horses and shouldn't take long to break her maiden.
Zoutons wasn't the only impressive maiden winner on Sunday.
The Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr-trained Ayrton demoralised its rivals on debut in the 1300m maiden.
Ridden by Jamie Kah, Ayrton sat second on the speed and exploded away from its rivals at the top of the straight.
Ayrton won by five lengths in a time of 1:16.50 - less than a second outside of the track record.
Meanwhile, two Bendigo stables had to settle for second placings on their home track.
Matthew Enright's consistent stayer Captain Meringue added another placing to its career when it ran second behind Solodka.
Queen Guinevere has had a wonderful campaign for Bendigo trainer Shane Fliedner.
After scoring two wins in a row, Queen Guinevere ran an unlucky fourth at Moonee Valley last start.
She backed that up with a solid second placing on Sunday.
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