KYNETON trainer George Osborne unveiled an exciting prospect when the three-year-old Kyokushin made a winning debut over 1200m at Kyneton on Monday.
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The son of Scissor Kick and Classic Approach had only two runners behind him at the 400m, but came sailing down the middle of the track in the home straight to score an ultra-impressive 1.2-length win over fellow Kyneton galloper Boho Miss, with the $2.10 favourite Super League in third.
Kyokushin, who was excellently ridden by the in-form Alana Kelly, has been a definite work in progress for Osborne, having had seven jump outs prior to his first start.
The astute trainer was naturally thrilled to see the gelding put it all together on race day, something he hadn't quite managed in a few of his jump outs.
"That was the way we hoped it would plan out and it planned out perfectly with a little bit extra on top," Osborne said.
"But full credit to Alana here, she has done all the work with this horse.
"We had a lot of troubles with him early on and she's been to every jump out with us and we have got the horse to settle, to get back and find the line.
"I'm sure she got great pleasure out of it."
While Kyokushin was well back on the home turn, Osborne was anything but worried about his prospects of finishing the race off strongly.
"Not the way we have been teaching her to get back and settle," he said.
"First start, he's going to go a long way this horse. He's a nice horse."
Making for an even better occasion for Osborne, a number of Kyokushin's Sydney-based owners made the trip to watch his winning debut.
Kelly also admitted to having plenty of faith in the three-year-old to get the job done.
"I've done a couple of trials on him, I think he's a real character," she said.
"I like that he can step out and then put his professional boots on and goes and does the job.
"I got stuck in a sticky spot with a few slow horses coming back in our laps, but he was travelling so well and was able to manipulate his way off the corner."
The win was the sixth for Osborne this season and formed part of a big day for the Kyneton locals on their home track.
Mick Sell trained the winner of the opening race Mobamba, while Liam Howley, Michael Jones and Bob Challis scored wins in the second half of the program with Almighty Will, Lavrovsky and French Star.
Lvavrovsky's win in the 1858m benchmark 58 broke a 794-day drought in between wins for the six-year-old Zoustar gelding.
Ridden by Jarrod Fry, Lavrovsky showed plenty of resilience in keeping his rivals at bay in the straight to score his second career victory at start number 28, much to the delight of his trainer.
"He's been a definite work in progress, he's had some quirks and he is his own worst enemy at times," Jones said.
"He gets worked up behind the gates and we've had a few troublesome preps - he had throat surgery a couple of preps ago. So he's been a work in progress, but we've got there.
"He ran last week and from an eight-day back-up he's kept on building. His last couple of starts have been improving.
"We thought if we could roll forward and control the race he'd be a good chance.
"We think he can get a bit further now too. As we've put a bit more base fitness into him he's been getting further and further.
"Hopefully he can build momentum."
Logan McNeil's win aboard the Challis-trained French Star in the final race gave him the riding honours for the day with a double, following an earlier win on Stiller for Benalla trainer Peter Burgun.
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