Well-related New Zealand-bred Affluential continued his purple patch of form at Warrnambool on Thursday when taking out the Novice Hurdle (3200m).
The full-brother to the ill-fated 11-time Group One winner Verry Elleegant has been in sensational form since joining Pakenham trainer John Lee Jnr’s barn, winning three and placing in three of his last six starts.
The son of Zed won his maiden hurdle, over two miles, at Pakenham last month before he returned to the flat at Cranbourne a fortnight later where he won over 2520m.
The Bob Peters-owned five-year-old was duly backed into $1.85 for Thursday’s contest and he delivered for his backers, winning by 4-1/2 lengths in the hands of jockey Will Gordon.
“When he got to the front his ears were going all over, he was like, ‘Oh, I’m done’. But he’s a really progressive horse and he’s going places,” Gordon told Racing.com.
“He’s going to be a horse that can hopefully stick around for years to come. Hopefully this isn’t his last win at the May Warrnambool Racing Carnival.”
Stable representative Andrea Leek was rapt with the result and believes Affluential is in for a bright future over fences.
“He is a fantastic horse and a horse for the future I think,” she said.
“He’s just a gem. He was asleep out the back, he is strong in his work, but he is a beautiful horse.”
Affluential was purchased out of Grangewilliam Stud’s 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft for $140,000 by bloodstock agent John Chalmers, on behalf of leading Perth owner Bob Peters.
