Widgee Turf (Image: Racing Photos)
Gordon McIntosh will attempt to disprove the theory that lightning cannot strike twice when the owner of the remarkable galloper Widgee Turf goes to Sunday's biggest weanling sale in the southern hemisphere in Melbourne.
McIntosh was at The Valley on Saturday to cheer home Widgee Turf's ninth win and his sixth city victory for the season in the Catanach's Jewellers Plate before he heads out to the Inglis complex at Oaklands Junction on Sunday to see if he can unearth a similar bargain.
Famously, McIntosh paid just $4500 for Widgee Turf as a weanling at the same sale in 2014. The horse has now won more than $720,000 from 19 starts with nine wins.
McIntosh said he bought the son of Turffontein because of the way he walked but now he most admires the way the horse gallops after securing yet another hard-fought win on Saturday.
After settling into second-last position, Widgee Turf ($4.80) unleashed his familiar fast-finishing burst in the straight to overhaul the leader Ashlor ($3.60 fav) and win by a neck, with three-quarters of a length to Malaise ($8.50) in third place.
WATCH: Widgee Turf's win
McIntosh flew into wintery Melbourne from Queensland on Friday to firstly watch Widgee Turf and then to possibly bid on a couple of other young horses on Sunday.
"I've got circles around two Turffonteins," he admitted.
There are seven Turffontein weanlings among 600 weanlings as well as hundreds of tried horses and broodmares to be sold at the Great Southern Sale over the next four days.
But while the race was yet another triumph for Widgee Turf, it was a disastrous return to the track for the Group 1 winner Bon Aurum, who finished 60 lengths behind the second-last horse in his first start for more than 18 months and was later found to be lame in the near foreleg.
Speaking before that discover, trainer Ciaron Maher said he feared something must be amiss with the horse as he expected a much better return.
"I thought he'd be competitive but he never really travelled," he said. "He seemed OK to the eye when he was walking past us but we'll just see how he is when he cools down and see if there are any injuries there."