Saxophonist opened his winning account for trainer Fred Kersley when he came from last in the Westspeed Plate (1200m) at Ascot yesterday.
The Saxon gelding stood his rivals a big start on turning the corner but railed along the fence for jockey Paul Harvey and edged out George ‘N’ Ernie by a half-head.
“It wasn’t part of the plan to be that far back and I sold out pretty early when he gave them such a start but a pretty good ride by Paul to take the short cuts,” said Kersley.
Saxophonist, who broke through at his third career start, is displaying promising signs for Kersley.
He ran a sound fourth to Puteri Jewell when making his debut on New Year’s Day and filled the same placing to yesterday’s race favourite Essayez.
“He was unlucky last start when he got a lot of buffering and interference throughout the run,” said Kersley.
He didn’t finish as well as we thought he would but yesterday it was run to suit him and they probably got a little tired in front and he was able to maintain.”
Kersley said Saxophonist would target feature two-year-old races in upcoming weeks.
“You would have to look at the Karrakatta Plate (1200m) but it’s not one of my favourite races,” he said.
“But the Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) a couple of weeks later will be to his liking.”
One Of The Wood, who led and kicked clear at the top of the straight, hung on for third.
George ‘N’ Ernie, who looked a winner everywhere but the post, ran his third consecutive placing.
Essayez couldn’t reproduce his impressive maiden win and ran fourth.