Kilmore trainer, Alicia Macpherson, has found the key to the success and consistency with Reefton Road.
The seven-year-old gelded son of North Reef and Tilley was a comfortable winner of the $22,650 Country Showcase 0-68 Handicap over 2000 metres at Seymour Racing Club’s Victorian Country Thoroughbred Festival Race Day on Sunday.
“The key is to keep him fresh. He’s so honest,” Macpherson said.
Last season’s Victorian Apprentice of the Year, Nick Hall, had the gelding sitting perfectly in third place throughout the run until well into the straight, when he collared the leaders at the 200 metres to come away to defeat Testatiga by 1½ lengths with early leader Top Rock a further four lengths away, third.
A “mountain” of a horse, Reefton Road, appears that he could stay all day, with a Moonee Valley 3000-metre race not out of the question.
Starting at the good odds of $12, the gelding has now been placed in five of his past seven starts, which include two wins.
“I’ll just give him a quiet time for a few weeks and then pick out a suitable race for him,” Macpherson said.
Among the gelding’s owners are Lancefield residents, George and Rachel Zaharakis, and Paul and Michelle Rix along with other Minstral Park Thoroughbred Racing clients.
The stable was unlucky not to make it a winning double for the day, when Last Man Out, having his first run since January, was just pipped on the post by last season’s Kilmore’s Horse of the Year, Side Splitter in the $27,650 Mitchelton Wines 0-78 Handicap over 1300 metres.