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All Roads banked a healthy cheque for his connections at Tauranga with part of those winnings to almost certainly be used to cover an overseas trip later this year.
The genuine five-year-old powered to a deserved victory and the thick end of the $100,000 stake in Saturday’s Windsor Park Stud Japan-New Zealand International Trophy and a performance to all but confirm plans for Queensland.
“Brisbane’s not a bad place to be in the winter time and it’s nice when they’ve already paid their way,” said Donna Logan, who trains All Roads with Chris Gibbs.“The money there is very good and he’s quite versatile, I think he will get over more ground.”
All Roads had finished runner-up in three of his previous four starts, including an unlucky run when cramped for room in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile.“He should have won that – he’s a very good horse,” Logan said. “My biggest concern today was the track and he only just coped with it.”
All Roads was given time to find his feet and he improved near the turn before rider Kelly McCulloch cut loose on the son of Road To Rock in the straight.“He travelled beautifully and we got a nice run through the field, if anything he got to the front too soon,” she said.
The topweight Scapolo powered home down the outside to finish runner-up with his fellow central districts visitor Beefeater making a good fist of his open class debut with his effort for third.McCulloch has now won five races on All Roads and she had predicted a top future for the gelding after she was successful in a Rating 65 race on him last July.
“I thought he was something special,” she said. “He’s got some gears and he gave me a really good feel.”