Father-and-son training team Mark and Levi Kavanagh hope their lightly raced three-year-old Midtown Boss can go onto bigger things after a fighting win at Sandown.
Midtown Boss took out the Ladbrokes Mates Mode Handicap (1200m) on Wednesday to remain undefeated this campaign.
Ridden by Blake Shinn, Midtown Boss ($4.40) scored a half-neck win from the $3.30 favourite Corner Off with Cause For Concern ($6) a further two lengths away third.
Midtown Boss staged a huge performance coming from well back to win his maiden at Geelong on November 5, but Shinn made use of the inside draw to have the colt settled behind the speed on Wednesday.
“He was down and out, and on the line, he’d had enough,” Mark Kavanagh said.
“But it was only his third start, and my opinion is he was out of his comfort zone a little bit, but that’s probably the way you have to ride this track today.
“I think he will be better suited relaxing and getting over a little longer. He’s a promising horse, but we’ve just got to sort out where he heads from here.”
Kavanagh said he was unsure of immediate plans for Midtown Boss but added Wednesday’s win was an important one going forward.
He said it should push his rating up to get into better three-year-old grade races.
Although Wednesday’s race was of Benchmark 64 grade, Kavanagh said it was possibly of a better standard than that.
“We wanted to get today out of the way and get a good read on him,” Kavanagh said.
“This wasn’t a bad race, with seven of them being last start winners, so that will give us a bit of a guide and where we head going forward.”
Shinn liked what was underneath him and believes Midtown horse will get to a higher grade.
“He’s a promising horse. He won well at Geelong, and backed it up here in a strong race,” Shinn said.
“I like the feel he gave me. He’s a colt with plenty of upside and he can only go forward from here.”
“The Boss won.”
Midtown Boss grabs his second career win for @MarkKavanaghRac
@blake_shinn pic.twitter.com/vaQ9APtrsJ — Racing.com (@Racing) November 23, 2022
