The most expensive yearling by Golden Slipper winning sire Pierro sold in 2021, blue-blood colt Pogacar made an eye-catching winning debut at Doomben on Wednesday.
Trained by Chris Waller, Pogacar has been handled quietly winning a barrier trial at Rosehill in early May at his second public outing when he beat stablemate Osipenko, another Pierro colt that also won on debut at Rosehill last Saturday.
Sent north to make his debut in the 1350m maiden, Pogacar was allowed to settle back in the field by James Orman and surged to the line out wide to win by a neck running away.
Pogacar has impressed since arriving in Brisbane and stable representative Brett Killion has a good opinion of the son of Pierro.
“He’s a high profile colt with a very nice attitude,” Killion said.
“Needed every bit of the furniture today being out of an Oaks winner, but he’s going to get better with distance and maturity.
“It was good to get that out of the way. Gate was a bit tricky, so he had to come back. The more he worked into the race the stronger he was.”
Purchased for $850,000 from Inglis Easter by Tom Magnier from the Fairview Park Stud draft, Pogacar was bred by Frank and Christine Cook’s Mystery Downs and is the first foal from their Group I VRC Oaks winner Lasqueti Spirit.
Lasqueti Spirit lost a foal last year by Deep Field and was one of 130 mares covered last spring by Pierro, whose fee for 2021 has been set at $99,000.