Highly talented three-year-old Properantes has recorded his third win from six career starts by storming over the top of his rivals to win the Listed $100,000 Raconteur Stakes (1500m) at Ascot this afternoon.
The Colin Webster-trained galloper handled the step up from a mid-week win over 1200 metres at Ascot on March 4 to Listed level with no trouble, and recorded a comfortable half-a-length win over Muskets At Dawn, who also finished second behind Properantes on March 4.
The Londoner improved significantly off his ninth place effort in the J.C. Roberts Stakes last Saturday to finish three-quarter-of-a-length away in third.
After the race, a gracious Webster said he was quietly confident Properantes would handle the step up in class well.
“We thought he had a good chance today,” he said.
“We thought the step up to 1500 metres was a bit of a concern, but 1500 to 1600 metres is his pet distance.”
Webster said the addition of blinkers to the gelding also played a key role in securing the victory.
“We didn’t want to put the blinkers on him first-up because we thought he might go a bit too hard, but after that race we wanted to put the blinkers on to give us an edge today.”
The time of the Raconteur Stakes was two seconds slower than Tower Of Lonhro’s win in the Grandstand Cup, with Properantes stopping the clock at 01:33:05.
Tim Walker
www.perthracing.org.au
