Hirsch Racing-bred gelding Mighty Fox unleashed a late charge to land his maiden victory at Benalla on Sunday.
Mighty Fox is a progressive type and impressed with the way he hit the line to score a narrow win in the Annabelle Cleeland Euroa Cup March 23 Maiden Plate (1106m).
Ridden by Billy Egan, Mighty Fox had the perfect run three lengths off the lead in third place and looked the winner when he hooked out early in the home straight.
Solid in betting at $7, he took some time to get through his gears but launched strongly in the closing stages to score in a blanket finish from Supamano ($15) and $1.60 favourite Celestial Harmony.
“He’s made steady improvement this campaign and showed he was close to win last start when he was a fast finishing second at Werribee earlier this month,” trainer Vincent Malady said.
Mighty Fox is trained at Tylden’s Hirsch Park and is a son of Eddie’s Hirsch’s Woodside Park Stud resident stallion Foxwedge from Street Cry mare She’s A Nightstar.
His third dam She’s A Bounty was a sister to VRC Derby and WA Derby winner Bounty Hawk but Mighty Fox is very much in the mould of his father Foxwedge whose five sprint wins included the Group 1 William Reid Stakes (1200m).
“He’s a big, strong heavy horse suited to sprints,” Vincent said.
He also looks best placed on firm tracks.
“His worst run this campaign was on a rain affected track three starts ago so hopefully summer tracks will give him more opportunities in the coming weeks,” Vincent said.