Trish Dunell
New Zealand-bred Night’s Watch opened his Australian account on Sunday with a narrow victory over 1200 metres at Bendigo.
The Redwood gelding was one of the favoured early candidates for last season’s Gr. 1 New Zealand Derby after a win on debut at Ellerslie from the Peter and Dawn Williams and Paul Richards stable.
Put aside after a further three runs saw him fall out of Derby contention, Night’s Watch was subsequently transferred to the Warrnambool stable of Darren Weir.
In his first appearance for the leading Victoria trainer, the four-year-old got home strongly to claim the front-runner Duke Of Nottingham in the shadows of the post.
“He probably didn’t look that impressive, but watching the race he did a fair bit wrong during the run as well as before the start,” Weir said.
“I think the run will do him a lot of good as it will bring his manners into line a little bit and there’s still a lot of upside to him. Where he ends up I’m not too sure, but I am sure he will be winning better races than this.”