Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh made a flying visit to Gosford, just outside of Sydney, on Thursday to saddle a pair of maiden gallopers and walked away with the lion’s share of prizemoney.
Four-year-old mare Campari was successful over 1100m, with the stakes-placed daughter of O’Reilly coming from back in the field to round up her rivals and win going away.
“She had a few issues and had been off the scene for a long time and came over off the back of one quiet trial,” Marsh said.
“Class takes them a fair way and I thought she was labouring a little bit coming into the straight, but she picked up nicely in the end and was strong late.
“I think she will benefit a lot from the run. If she keeps fronting up, we will stay here for as long as we can.”
A race later Group Two-placed Pins mare Mark Two broke her maiden as expected over 1600m.
“A mile is just her warm-up distance and you could see she was on and off the bit, but that’s just her,” Marsh said.
“She will go straight from a mile up to 2000m at least and she will carry on stepping up from there.”
Both mares sport the colours of New Zealand syndication company Go Racing and both were ridden by Kiwi jockey James McDonald.
“It is good to see Stephen coming over from New Zealand,” McDonald said.
“He is a very good young trainer coming through and I’d say we will see a lot more of him bringing these types of horses over.”
