Enigmatic galloper Morpurgo ($5.50) turned in a complete performance on Pakenham’s synthetic track on Saturday, proving he’s well above 0-58 grade. The four-year-old son of Toronado can be inconsistent with his effort at times, but there’s no doubting he has ability, which was there for all to see with an easy three-and-a-half length win under jockey Mitch Aitken.
The Henry Dwyer-trained gelding was slowly away but Aitken gave an early dig and sent him forward to sit outside Good Life Diva ($4.80), who was fiercely over-racing. The tempo came right out of the race at the midway point and Stylish Icon ($16) darted forward to take over, allowing Aitken to click up and sit outside of it approaching the home bend. Morpurgo quickly took over entering the straight and dashed clear at the 250-metre mark, opening up a significant lead before switching off nearing the line. It was a cool ride from Aitken, who was pleased with how the race panned out. “I was glad that horse went around us and put a bit of speed into it. At the top of the straight he just exploded and he found the line really well”.
Trainer Dwyer was happy with his gelding’s performance post-race. “That was good. Obviously the synthetic track really suited him”, Dwyer said. “It was all over 600-metres out, really. It looked like he was going to win”. Dwyer will avoid wet tracks with his galloper for the time being, opting to stay on top of the ground in the coming months. “We’ll step him up in grade next time and hopefully get another win on a synthetic track with him”.
Morpurgo now has two wins from fourteen career starts, with the stable hoping he can go on with the job this preparation.