Ziggy Winner + Thinking Straight

 A sense of overwhelming relief tinged with the ecstasy of a hard-earned winner was felt amongst the team this weekend when Ziggy Willie, a stable favourite, finally nailed an overdue win at Eagle Farm.

Powering down the centre of the track in the final race of Saturday's meeting, Ziggy Willie was held quietly by Michael Cahill before being headed by Mr Jetset and appearing to be forced to settle for another placing.

Yet the Pfieffer polish rewarded followers of the consistent gelding as the big motor kicked into overdrive to fend off the challenge of the outside and Ziggy held on to win by a long neck.

"It's great to get a win with him, he has been knocking on the door for a long time and just missed in his past two runs" Pfieffer said.

Ziggy Willie was allowed to settle comfortably off midfield between the back runners in the 1200m event, but travelled sweetly under Cahill to be less than a length from the leaders and five wide when approaching the turn.

A long sustained run was enough to deliver Team Pfieffer their first winner of the new season, albeit in Pfieffer's home state of Queensland.

"He ran on strongly last start at Eagle Farm and I think he does well up there, so when I found another race like the last I jumped at the opportunity to get him back on the float north" commented the trainer.

Ziggy Willie's last run was at the same track and distance as the victory, when beaten just over a length into third place which saw the gelding start as a $7.50 chance on Saturday.

A handsome son of Craiglea Stud's G1-placed Cheval De Troy, Ziggy Willie is from the Desert King mare She's No Miss, a speedy type who won over 1000m when trained by Oliver Koolman, who manages the ownership of Ziggy Willie.

Back home at Pfieffer's Warwick Farm base, Monday morning saw a flourish of movement with trials at Randwick and two horses being readied for a trip to Nowra.

On a pleasant morning, providing much needed relief to the sodden Randwick surface, two exciting colts made their anticipated 3YO debut amongst a host of key Spring contenders.

The first to step out was the physically striking specimen I Thought So, the aptly named son of So You Think from the handy Fusaichi Pegasus mare Cat's Pyjamas. With a bit of speed injected into the pedigree of this colt from the dam's side to compliment the high cruising speed of the dual hemisphere champion So You Think, I Thought So's pedigree suggests he could easily stretch to the mile and be competitive over the classic distances as a Spring 3YO.

Jumping evenly and allowed to find his feet at the tail of the field by Tommy Berry, I Thought So tracked up keenly behind the leaders and pinched an inside run when straightening to be within striking distance. Lengthening impressively over the final 300m saw I Thought So grab third behind two supremely bred Fastnet Rock colts under his own steam.

The second colt to trial was I Thought So's training companion Nevada Mo, another imposing male by Coolmore's boom young sire Uncle Mo. Uncle Mo rose to fame thanks to the deeds of his Northern Hemisphere son Nyquist, winner of the Breeder's Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby.

The colt's dam Pearl Ardane, a winner over 1580m by Danehill from the US-bred mare Sea Almond, has a perfect record so far as a matron with all five foals to race finding the winner's circle.

With his pedigree suggesting the colt would improve with both age and distance, Nevada Mo found another gear to win his heat under the urgings of Tommy Berry.

Both colts will now be assessed by their trainer over the coming week before no doubt lining up for their first race starts.