Woods already looking ahead to Derby after Farm Legend's win
A dominant win from Farm Legend gifted Sean Woods a double, but the trainer is hoping the three-year-old can land him a much bigger prize next season.
Woods is hopeful Farm Legend has the potential to step up as a Derby contender next year and is confident that we have yet to see the best from his progressive youngster.
Farm Legend made a lie of his race inexperience to gun down Royal Pumpkin and Roma Thunder in the Beas River Country Club Handicap (1,400m).
'All indications have been that Farm Legend is a very nice horse with a bright future,' Woods said. 'He has a lot of class but really is still just the shell of a horse, he has a lot of maturing to do.
'I think he'll get further, a mile will be no problem, and if he's up to that, then who knows, a Derby campaign may not be out of the question.'
Woods is taking it one step at a time, however, and gave the horse a good space between his first-start fourth behind London China Town and yesterday's win.
'When I looked at him after he ran fourth behind some handy horses, I thought to myself that this bloke needed to be trained like we would in England,' Woods said.
'So I backed off him, gave him some time and even now he's already starting to relax, which is a terrific sign that he's settled in well here.
'It's great for the owners, too, they sent me a horrible horse earlier and I gave it one start and then told them to get rid of it, but to their credit they've stuck solid and hopefully they will be rewarded.'
The trainer started the day in great form after Ho Happy claimed a well-deserved win down the straight in the first event.
'It was an overdue win for Ho Happy, he has been knocked around in a couple of his races or met some very smart sprinters and it just hasn't fallen into place for him before today,' Woods said.
'He has been very unlucky not to have won earlier, but today he got on the pace, got the right run and really deserved to be rewarded for his efforts.
'I put the side winkers on him for the first time, really just to give him that little extra badge of courage and Douglas [Whyte] navigated him beautifully.
Woods almost bagged a treble when his other straight-course hopeful Diamond Knight finished a narrow second to the same horse who had previously bettered Farm Legend - the talented London China Town.
'Diamond Knight bled after the race but also ran into a very good horse in London China Town,' Woods said. 'It was a top effort because he never got any cover and still attacked the line, so it's a shame he couldn't quite match the good horse after all that.'
