Promising four-year-old Owners' Pride had a little more to do than he had in winning on debut last July but did it in tradesmanlike style to give Tye Angland the first half of his double.
Angland has kicked the new term off strongly and slipped into second place on the table behind Zac Purton with wins on Owners' Pride and Forever Elation yesterday taking him to five victories in five meetings.
"It's all going pretty well. The only downside to Owners' Pride is that he probably won't get my weight next time when he goes up in grade," Angland said.
The Australian was quick to position Owners' Pride outside the leader, The Prince, and backers who took short odds never had a great deal to be concerned about in the run.
"I think he was as impressive today as when he won his first start," Angland said. "The race panned out beautifully but he had more weight this time and was just a bit one-paced getting to the leader.
"I still had a good hold of him when The Prince kicked a length and a half clear and thought we'd get to him a bit easier but it just took him time to wind into it today. But look at the last 50m and his momentum was still increasing and he was drawing away at the line."
Two from two at 1,200m now for the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained gelding, but Angland expects him to become more like his sire, Barely A Moment, a Group One winner at 1,400m and 1,600m in Melbourne, beating Hong Kong's Super Kid into second both times.
"I wasn't sure what to think before the race as his work had been good but his trial was disappointing. He's a big horse who will keep improving and the way he raced today, he might want 1,400m next start," Angland said. "I'd say that's where he is going to show his true colours, 1,400m to a mile."
