He was on the undercard to Kay Cee in the Raconteur Stakes on Saturday, but Reign Of Fire could become a main act in his own right when the Ascot carnival rolls around later this year.
In a devastating performance on debut, the Colin Webster-trained juvenile made the perfect start to his racing career when he shot clear and blitzed his rivals to win by 4 ¼ lengths.
Justifying strong market support as favourite after showing great potential at the trials, Reign Of Fire settled midfield in the field of ten before jockey Jordan Turner gave him full rein.
The Trade Fair gelding responded in emphatic terms and by the 200m he had the race shot to pieces and in his grasp when he exploded to the finishing line with a burst of speed.
Stamping himself as a potential top liner, Webster said he has WA Guineas ambitions for his promising galloper.
“He is a very nice horse and is very promising,” Webster told Tabradio.
“We were very, very happy with the result.
“He will have another start before we give him a break.
“We have to work out if we can get him back for the spring.
“Maybe we can look at the Guineas or something like that.”
Bought for $18,000 as a yearling, Webster had an idea of what laid ahead for Reign Of Terror after three warm ups against good competition.
He scored twice in two heats, defeating Charlton Eddie and Madam Torio over 400m and 1000m respectively. He ran second to Dom To Shoot in a 1000m heat.
Members of the Sean and Jake Casey team, Dom To Shoot progressed to finish runner-up in the WA Sires (1400m) and Charlton Eddie won four of five starts.
A small set-back prevented Reign Of Fire tackling the rich two-year-old season, but Webster was confident he would come back a winner first-up.
“The three trials he had were really great trials,” Webster said.
“He did it easily against some of the best two-year-olds here and the times were good.
“He pulled up shin sore after his second trial and we spelled him.
“But he matured really well and came back stronger from that.”
Reign Of Fire capped a top week for Webster after another of his babies, Dad’s Bigheaded, broke his maiden status at Belmont on Wednesday.
“He’s gone to the paddock and will improve out of sight with a break.
“I would expect a fair bit of more improvement.”
Julio Santarelli