Reliable Man five-year-old Chattahoochee capped off a spectacular couple of days for Auckland racing identity Bryan Black when he romped to victory at Hastings.
Despite covering extra ground, the Debbie Sweeney-trained representative made short work of his Rating 75 opposition over 1600 metres on Saturday.
Black shares in the ownership of Flash Mary and was at Cranbourne on Friday night to see her win the A$100,000 Pinker Pinker Cup and he is also a part-owner of the progressive Chattahoochee.
The grey is trained by Debbie Sweeney, who guided Flash Mary to three wins before she was sent to Cindy Alderson’s Victorian operation, and has gone from strength to strength.
“He’s been in work a long time, but it doesn’t seem to worry him and he’s just kept improving,” Sweeney said.
Chattahoochee broke his maiden on the all-weather track at Cambridge in June and then placed before further successes at New Plymouth and Tauranga ahead of Hastings.
The gelding drew the outside gate and, despite racing three wide for the trip, he bounded to the front 200 metres from home to win with ease.
“He’s super tough and he’s done it tough again,” Sweeney said.
“I’m very happy and I’m pretty sure he’ll head to the paddock now and we’ll look for some nice races later on.”
Winning rider Opie Bosson believes the best is yet to come from Chattahoochee.
“He’s just getting better and better with every run. We landed three deep with no cover, but he was just too good for them,” he said.
“He’s still got so much more to learn and when he puts it all together he’s going to be a very classy galloper.”
Chattahoochee was bred by The Oaks Stud and is a son of the late Darci Brahma mare Auspicious who was a half-sister to the multiple black type winner Kelantan and Skysoblue, who won on seven occasions and placed at Group level three times.