Turned out in great order by Chris Waller and ridden by Nash Rawiller, Photon Willie was having his first run since breaking his maiden at Kembla on January 13.
Photon Willie settled back in the field and unleashed a powerful burst from the home turn to reel in the leaders in a twinkling and looked set to win by a space until he momentarily lost the plot.
The colt veered out sharply over the final stages, testing the horsemanship
skills of Nash Rawiller, who straightened him sufficiently to still win the
1200 metre sprint by a length and three-quarters."We learned two things today, he has the ability and was fresh for this distance, but he also still has a few of his tricks," Waller said.
"If we can get them ironed out, he has untapped potential.
"I'll keep him to shorter distances, up to a mile, as we learned from Shoot Out(five time Group I winner by High Chaparral). The High Chaparral breed have a lot of speed if you choose to train them that way."
Photon Willie was bought by Anton Koolman Bloodstock for $750,000 from the Windsor Park draft at the 2011 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale making him the most expensive yearling by his sire sold in 2011.
He has now won two of six starts for Hermitage Bloodstock Syndicate, which is a Hong Kong based investor, whose bloodstock interests are managed by Anton and Ollie Koolman.
The handsome bay colt is a three-quarter brother-in-blood to Group III winner Fairy Oak and is the second winner for Sorestam, a half-sister by Volksraad (GB) to Fairy Oak from the family of New Zealand Group I winners Field Dancer and Just a Dancer.
High Chaparral stands this spring at Coolmore at a fee of $77,000.
