NAVAJO Chief was chief of the Corey’s Catering Class 1 Handicap (1200m) at yesterday’s Tamworth Jockey Club’s Corporate Sponsors Race Meeting (1200m).
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The Craig Martin-trained four-year-old was a runaway three-and-a-half length winner from Red Danaseur (Stephen Gleeson) and Maxwells Creek (Gavin Groth).
It was the Zizou-Dido gelding’s second win from four starts and followed a 2.3length win at Moree at the end of last month.
“It was a nice little win for him,” Martin said.
Somewhat a bit surprisingly, he led pretty much most of the race.
Martin was expecting a bit more speed early and, jumping from eight, the plan was to settle in about fourth or fifth.
But with little speed on, jockey Adam Sewell, who picked up the ride with Rachel King sick, sensed an opportunity and took it.
“The kid did the right thing. He kept going forward to cross to the fence,” Martin said.
He got out to a good couple of lengths’ lead and never really looked like being run down.
Martin was confident.
“I was quite confident at the 600m,” he said.
“He still had a tight hold of the horse – the rest were starting to niggle.”
Red Danaseur finished on strongly down the outside to snatch second from Maxwells Creek in a photo.
There was only a neck in it and the same back to Warwick Avenue (Mark Hatch) in fourth, with the three virtually hitting the line together.
Martin doesn’t have any firm plans for Navajo Chief yet.
“We’ll probably look around here.
“We’ll see how he handles the next trip,” he said.
“We’ll let him do the talking.”
He’s only been unplaced in one start after picking up a second at Tamworth two starts back.
“He’s doing well,” Martin said.
“Coming into spring, he’s got a spring in his step.”
Martin also picked up a third in the Downtown Magazine Maiden Handicap (1200m) with Abundance of Heart.