News

A new Master of the ‘Valley?

21st Oct 2015

TBV News - Wednesday 21 October 2015

The Inglis Banner at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day for the two-year-olds has some exciting Victorian bred juveniles lining up for a crack at a big prize.

Ten of the fourteen runners are Victorian bred or sired and will be running not just for the $250,000 in prizemoney but also a lucrative $30,000 in Super VOBIS bonuses.

Young Mornington trainer Amy Johnston is confident of her entry, Delta D’Or, in the race. Like many of the runners, the Master of Design gelding is a debutant.

Delta D’Or was bred by the late Kevin Heffernan and raised at Blue Gum Farm. He is out of the Encosta De Lago mare Gold Delta who is a sibling of black type winners Gold in Dubai and Gold Busker.

Amy bought Delta D’Or as a yearling for $30,000 in conjunction with David Raphael’s Stallion Racing at the Inglis VOBIS Gold sale in April.

“David picked him out and we bought him together with a couple of other fellas,” Amy said.

“I actually used to work at the Freedmans (training operation) when they use to have Master of Design and Delta D’Or reminds me a lot of the horse himself.”

Following a gallop by Delta D’Or at Moonee Valley’s annual Breakfast with the Best on Tuesday morning, Amy said she was really pleased with his work.

“We weren’t going out there to break any track records. It was just nice confident work going into Saturday. “He just keeps on stepping up and improving all of the time.”

His jockey for Saturday, Stephen Baster, also rode him on Tuesday morning and was happy with the horse’s work.

“He has had a jump out at Balnarring, I rode him there and trialled quite nice.

“He’s a nice little horse. He’s only a little fella, but he’s quite well put together. There’s not a lot of him, but he’s all heart so fingers crossed.”

Delta D’Or will be one of two runners in the Inglis Banner for Swettenham Stud’s sire Master of Design. The other is Kinetic Design which was stakes placed at Flemington in the Maribyrnong Trial Stakes earlier this month.

Other Victorian sires represented in the race include Reward for Effort (Dalradian), Equiano (Valliano), Red Arrow (Le Meringue) and Stryker (Preemptive) while former Victorian sires Host (Rata Tat Tat) and Bel Esprit (Sweet Sherry) also have a runner each.

Emphatically (bred by Lauriston Thoroughbreds) and Credible Witness (Ed McKeon) were also bred in Victoria and will be eligible for the Super VOBIS bonuses.

CLICK HERE for field here on Racing.com.