Sutton Grange trainer Brent Stanley got his summer off to a positive start when Garbhan completed a hat-trick with victory over 2400 metres on the Hillside track at Ladbrokes Park Sandown on Wednesday.
The lightly raced six-year-old was stepping up to benchmark 70 grade after successive benchmark 64 wins over 1850 metres at bet365 Park Kyneton and over 2000 metres at Donald.
Garbhan’s only previous run beyond 2000 metres was a failure in the 2017 Queensland Derby, which was run over 2200 metres at Doomben.
At the time he was trained at Hawkesbury by Mitch Newman.
Garbhan was on the sidelines for two years after the Queensland Derby run, reappearing in Stanley’s care on July 25 this year at Echuca.
His first six runs for Stanley yielded two seconds but he is unbeaten from three since, taking his overall record to 20 starts for five wins, two seconds and $133,570.
On Wednesday he was a drifter from $8.50 to $13 but led for much of the journey under apprentice Liam Riordan and showed plenty of guts to hold out the late challenge of the $2 favourite, the Lindsey Smith-trained Pour Vous.
Riordan’s two-kilo claim, which gave Garbhan a 2.5kg advantage, may have proved telling.
Stanley and Riordan went agonisingly close to making it a double in the following race, a benchmark 64 over 1800 metres, when Dondubhan ($9 to $12) ran second in a blanket finish behind the Henry Dwyer-trained The Black Leopard ($4.20).
Dondubhan, like Garbhan, is having his first campaign for Stanley and races in the colours of Sona Bloodstock.
Dondubhan, who was previously with Darren Weir, has had five starts with Stanley for two wins, two seconds and $37,620.
Overall he’s had 17 starts for three wins, five minor placings and $64,965.