Progressive galloper Rolling Pin notched up his maiden group success when leading all the way to cause a boil over in the Group 3 Cameron Handicap at Newcastle.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Jumping fairly from the good draw, Rolling Pin quickly took up the running from last start winner Tagus with Offenders sitting off the speed in third.
Allowed to dictate freely in front by Christian Reith, the son of Pins sprinted quickly to establish a nice break upon entering the straight before he tired late to just hold on with the John O'Shea trained Lightinthenite flashing home to finish second.
The heavily supported Kontiki Park appeared to struggle to come on after settling at the tail of the field.
"It wasn't really the plan to lead on him," Reith said.
"He began like a gazelle and wanted to fight me a little bit early so I just gave him a bit of reign got him to relax and got him to get into his stride."
"He just felt fantastic."
Having proven quite competitive in tougher company this time in, the promising galloper collected Gwenda Markwell's second Cameron Handicap after she previously took out the event with Osca Warrior in 2004.
With his better form arguably seen over further, Reith still feels there is plenty of improvement left in him going forward.
"It was a tough race today, all credit to Gwenda (Markwell) and all her staff the horse was out in tip-top order and we all well rewarded with the win," Reith said.
"He's still got a lot of improvement left in him and he's always shown ability this horse so it was good to see him pick up one of these races."
Currently nominated for next month's Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) Rolling Pin currently stands as a $51 chance with TAB Sportsbet to take out the feature event at Randwick.
