MACEDON Lodge trainer Liam Howley is convinced his stable star Virtuous Circle is only just scratching the surface of his potential following a relief-laden win at Flemington on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The four-year-old son of Almanzor snapped a 656 day drought between wins with a brilliant from last to first victory over 2000m with Ethan Brown in the saddle.
While Virtuous Circle's first win since August of 2022 brought plenty of comfort for Howley, the dual Group 1-winning trainer could not help feel that his gelding had been somewhat unfairly maligned, given his record of three wins and three placings, including one at Group 1 level and two at Group 2 level, from 17 starts.
"Probably the storm around him not winning is probably a bit of an unjustified criticism. He's been running really well," Howley said.
"You look at his three--year-old campaign, he ran some really good Group 2 seconds.
"People are quick to forget in this game; he's only had 16 or 17 starts. I think we are still just scratching the surface of him.
"Gelding him has certainly had an effect. We gave him plenty of time and certainly the team at home has done a super job with him.
"We've never lost faith in him. It's a real credit to his owners, who have stuck fat, and stuck by us."
After capping his autumn three-year-old campaign with a second in the Group 1 ATC Derby at Randwick last year, Virtuous Circle had five starts during the spring, culminating in his 18th in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup.
Winless in five starts during the spring, despite running some nice races, his campaign was hampered by dry tracks and immaturity.
Howley admits to deliberately lowering the bar this preparation in a bid to recapture some winning form.
To that end, Saturday's plan was perfectly executed.
While last of 13 runners on the home turn, Howley was nevertheless confident Virtuous Circle could finish the race off well.
"I thought he was in a good spot. Ethan gave him a peach last start and we said just stick to the plan, there's no need to change anything, we think he's in pretty good order," Howley.
"(Ethan) just produced him with an absolute peach of a ride and produced him at the right time.
"That willingness from the horse is back. It was good to see.
"We all know they run on confidence. He came back after his last start and had a real temper about him. He was angry and he's been angry ever since, so I took that as he was ready to win.
"Certainly his work during the week suggested he was ready to put his hand up and remind people of how he is."
Howley was keen to let Saturday's win sink in, with no big reveal on potential spring targets for Virtuous Circle.
"(Saturday) was all about getting him winning," he said.
"I did say during the week that we lowered the bar for this preparation just to give him some confidence and look after him.
"The ground was really unkind on (Melbourne) Cup day and he really blew up, so we've had to manage him through.
"Its just good to get a win, to get him back on top. But we'll just take it one step at a time."
Jockey Brown, who notched up a double on Saturday following his earlier success on Berkshire Breeze, felt Virtuous Circle was primed to deliver third-up following a sound effort in his last start at Flemington over 1600m.
"After his last start, Liam and I looked at each other and thought he's definitely ready for 2000," he said.
"He covered a lot of ground last start. It was a bigger run than it probably looked.
"But I was full of confidence (on Saturday), bearing in mind it was 2000 for the first time this prep.
"He got the trip no problem and he's only going to improve fitness-wise. He can probably get further (in distance) again."
