It was a dominant display of front-running riding by Steve Pateman as stable favourite Brungle Bertie delivered on his debut over the obstacles with a commanding all the way win in the E-Cycle Solutions Maiden Hurdle at Casterton today.
The big striding five-year-old gelding has shown he can stay all day on the flat and while dour and one-paced, he can sustain a gallop and the further the better.
“Today worked out really well, Steve elected to lead on him to take any trouble from inferior horses out of the equation and he was just only really warming up as he got to the line,” said Henry.
“His jumping was spot on except for the last one, where under full pressure he just tried to barge through it, but no harm was done and he stood up and kept his balance and was really good to the line.
“He’s been in work a long time and the plan was always to win a maiden hurdle before giving him a break, but we might squeeze in another flat run if we find the right race,” said Henry.
It was Steve Pateman’s ride that allowed Brungle Bertie to stride freely and Pateman felt he had his opposition covered a long way out.
“He’s had a fantastic experience today and a real confidence builder as he really enjoyed himself out the front as he had his ear’s pricked,” said Pateman.
“He jumped beautifully during the run, not overly fluent over the last one under pressure, but I think he has a massive future and today was just the ideal day out.
“He was a big horse on a tight track today so I thought we would lead and take away any bad luck, there were certainly a lot of pluses to come out of the run for him,” said Pateman.
While Brungle Bertie will most likely be given a couple of more jumps trials to keep his education going and potentially another flat run before enjoying a break, given his stamina and his now liking for the jumps, the dizzying heights of a Grand Annual could potentially be on the cards down the track. One can only dream.