Mr Alejandro gets on the board
The Australian veteran, who does not command as many rides as some of his lighter colleagues, has nonetheless made the most of his limited opportunities in this early stage of the 2020 season, having already scored on Effortless, Surge, Born To Win and now, Mr Alejandro for trainer Lee Freedman in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden Division 1 race over 1400m.
From 18 rides (and Mr Alejandro was his only booking for the day), Powell now shares the highest strike rate of 22% with current leader Vlad Duric (six wins from 27 rides).
Mr Alejandro loomed as a good thing once Powell popped him off his rails-hugging run around the home turn to collar race-leader Mighty Vain (Benny Woodworth), but it was, however, not quite the one-way traffic the $8 favourite tag would suggest.
After opening up to a two-length break, the Rip Van Winkle three-year-old did get the staggers inside the last 0, allowing God's Gift (Alysha Collett) to close him down, but he had enough petrol left to open his account with 1 ½ lengths to spare.
Mighty Vain, who had to work overtime to come across from his widest barrier in put in a mighty effort to hang on for third place, beaten only a head. The winning time was 1min 23.11secs for the 7 f on the Short Course.
"He had a nice run. I didn't want to get there too early, I held him for as long as I could," said Powell.
"But he got tired in the straight. He was not getting away as I would have liked, but he will keep improving."
Just like for his earlier winner Circuit Star (read earlier report), Freedman reckoned a step-up in distance will suit Mr Alejandro better.
"The break was beneficial. He's a staying horse and he's really come on during the break," said the Australian handler.
"There is more improvement to come from him. As he's got Zabeel on the dam side (Honeymoon's sire), he'll go up to the mile.
"There aren't many staying races here, but 1 1⁄8 m races would suit him."
Having already picked up around $49,000 in prizemoney from his two seconds and one third, Mr Alejandro has almost doubled that amount to around $90,000 with that first win at his fifth start for the Oscar Racing Stable.
