An early August Cranbourne jumpout produced a promising quinella in the opener at Sandown on Wednesday, as Engine Of War held off a fast finishing There Were Roses over 1500 metres.
Purchased by MyRacehorse after a debut third placing and some promising private jumpouts in his native New Zealand, the son of Circus Maximus had tuned up for his first local run with a nice pair of hit-outs, having not been fully tested in either.
In the earliest of those, the same could be said for There Were Roses, who is also in her second prep, as she finished a few lengths back but similarly looked to have something to offer.
And they both showed plenty back under race-day conditions, though Engine Of War always looked the more likely, stalking the pace and finding a much-needed gap at the perfect time, albeit one he took awkwardly, under Mark Zahra.
But There Were Roses followed him through and as a margin opened on the rest of the field, the gap between at the front shrunk.
There Were Roses and Craig Williams put in a lunge on the line, but the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained Engine Of War hung on in the battle of promising three-year-olds.
“It was a good effort by the horse. He raced fairly tractably, he’s a very big, raw product,” Kent Jnr said.
“I’d be interested to get Mark’s comments there, because he looked to get to the front fairly easily and then whether he didn’t know what to do, or how to put the race away (I’m not sure).
“The second horse was very good behind him. He’s only got upside, he’s very big – 16’2-and-a-half-hand three-year-old, all leg and I hope he stays, he looks like he should.”
Having been eyed up by both MyRacehorse and Price and Kent Jnr in the lead-up to his purchase, the two forces teamed up and have kicked off in the best possible way.
A Victoria Derby tilt will now be the likely focus for Engine Of War.
“My Racehorse through Andy Williams purchased him, but we were chasing him at the same time through our avenues,” he said.
“They bought him and we joined together after that. He was purchased and given a five-week spell and then had a full preparation to this point.
“I’m rapt for the owners, we’ve got some good clients on our side and of course MyRacehorse, they’re so good for this game. They’d be more than half the crowd here.
“He’s got to do everything right. I think every horse in this field was probably touted as a Derby type, so we’ll be aiming that way.”