CARROLL STREET & BUNDLE OF DELIGHT

20 Dec 2020

Price Bloodstock topped a good week with trainer Douglas Whyte landing a first-up victory with Carroll Street at Sha Tin that belied the confidence the former great jockey took into the three-year-old’s debut.

Whyte has already had a terrific association with Price Bloodstock in his brief training career, as he did when riding, and he expected Carroll Street to make his presence felt down the straight despite his lack of experience and his 46-1 odds.

“We had an odds-on favourite, a horse who had won his only start in good style, so I wasn’t confident enough to say he would win but I thought he would finish in the top three,” Whyte said after watching the gelding swamp the favourite and come away to win by a growing margin. “He did a very good job. He got held up a bit there, but he has got a turn of foot. The main key to him is that he wants to be ridden quiet, he wants to catch a breath and he wants to get into a rhythm. He’s just not a horse that copes with pressure the whole way. He needs to think about things and then let go.That’s why I’ve taken time with him.”

At this stage, Whyte plans to keep Carroll Street to the straight 1000m course but admits he doesn’t see that as his forte as he gains experience and strength.

“We’ll see what the handicapper does, hopefully he leaves him in the grade,” Whyte said. “I won’t rush him, that’s for sure. He’ll definitely improve from the race and the horse will tell me when he’s ready to start next.

“I reckon 1,400m will eventually be his best distance, that’s what he feels like when I’ve ridden him in trackwork. He might even get a mile when his attitude and race pattern allows him to.”

It was a an even better race for Price Bloodstock as third-placed Sight Hero improved on his debut effort to run third and put the writing on the wall that his maiden win is on the way too.

Earlier in the week, David Hall-trained Bundle Of Delight broke through for his first Hong Kong win at Happy Valley over 1800m in a continuation of a long relationship between Price Bloodstock and owner Colin Lo.

“He won well. He has been building towards a performance like that,” said jockey Zac Purton. “He got a good draw, got to a suitable distance for the first time and we didn’t have any worries in the run. So he had everything in his favour and it all went right for him and he responded the right way, but it won’t be his last win, that’s for sure,. He’s by Tavistock, they tend to get better as they mature and I think there’s more to come with him.”