ESTIARTE GETTING THE HANG OF THINGS

ESTIARTE hangs on to win at Ascot on Saturday aided by a rails run compliments of the great ride from Jason Whiting.



A very happy part owner Steffan Vahala leads ESTIARTE back to scale on Saturday.


Lightly raced galloper ESTIARTE has taken a few seasons of racing to mature both in body as well as mind but the wait has been worth while. His win at Ascot on Saturday showed the difference in the horses attitude between now and when I first took over training the horse some months ago.

I remember the first time we started the horse I thought he would win and the way he was travelling in running on the day made me even more confident. Unfortunately when the horse lost sight of the other runners when finishing quickly down the outside, he literally pulled up and refused to hit the line. On Saturday the horse also hit the front quite early in the straight however with the benefit of race experience and mental maturity, he was able to finish the race right off.

ESTIARTE is no champion however he has developed into a great money spinner for his enthusiastic group of owners who get quite "toey" every time the horse races. It is great to see and even better to witness the pleasure and excitement the horse brings to them all when he either wins or looks a winning chance. ESTIARTE still has a couple of restricted wins left in him before he needs to tackle the best company however the way he has been racing suggests that open company will not be beyond him.