JRA Plate victory confirms Asterix at his sharpest

The win by Asterix stood out as somewhat surprising compared to Waller's earlier triumphs, given the progressive eight-year-old gelding was dispatched at $16 into the race.

Having captured the New Zealand Derby four years back, Asterix lost momentum for a period before flashing his class last summer with a win in The Beauford and a second in the Christmas Cup.

In his first appearance of the season in the JRA Plate, Waller had no clear idea of what to anticipate from Asterix, yet was thrilled as the stayer closed powerfully to prevail, assisted by Jason Collett's timely steer.

"It's taken a while for him to find his legs in Australia, but he's certainly racing honestly now. That was a good win,.'' Waller said.

"That's exactly what we wanted to see and I think there's a Gosford Cup in about three weeks to consider.

"We'll have a look at that first, it's good prizemoney here in Sydney and then probably up to Queensland."

From $16 odds, Asterix thrust forward amid the field with Collett aboard to nab You Wahng ($9) by a long head at the finish, as Travolta ($3.80 favourite) trailed by half a length for third.

The race "played out really well" for Asterix, according to Collett.

"His trials were really good coming into it, he had some freshness in his legs but starting off over 2000m may have been a question mark,'' Collett said."Chris said 'be kind to him' and we got a very kind run. Off a moderate tempo, we only had to get out late and sprint and he did that.

"I was pretty happy with that win, I think he'll be in for a pretty good winter campaign."

Last season's Queensland Oaks champion You Wahng signalled that victories are on the horizon soon with her valiant second-place effort.

"She's run very well so we will look at Brisbane again with her,'' trainer Kris Lees.

"It was encouraging to see her run so well and if we get some rain-affected tracks, then that won't worry her, either."

Waller hinted that Travolta might proceed to the Gosford Gold Cup scheduled for May 9 after his unfortunate but eye-catching third.

"It wasn't a pretty sight, was it? Just didn't have any luck at the top of the straight,'' Waller said."By the time he got out, it was sort of too late, but I think it showed he's much more effective over these shorter distances, so he'd probably go there too."

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