Trainer Gino Poletti has been patient with Playboy Persona and the gelding began paying him back in the Plantagenet Pork Maiden (1300m) at Northam on Thursday.
The first-up victory didn’t surprise Poletti even though Playboy Persona is bred to get over ground being by Perth Cup winner Black Tom. He started a $2.30 favourite and powered home from the back-end of the field to score by a short-head.
“We haven’t trained him like a stayer although I’m sure he will eventually get a good mile,” Poletti said. “He’s still furnishing and I will give him another run before coming to town.”
Black Tom (Langfuhr) is based at Rivercrest Park Stud and he broke through in the metro area when Dragonlead won at Ascot on the Anzac Day weekend.
Playboy Persona (4g Black Tom – Procurator by Court Of Honour) showed enough ability to weigh in at his first two starts at Pinjarra in March. “He was tired by the time we got him to the races,” Poletti recalled. “He was immature and a handful so we settled him down with plenty of work in the sand.”
Managing part-owner John Connell and Poletti are old mates from their days in Kalgoorlie. Connell was licensee of the Exchange Hotel in Hannan Street before relocating to Perth where runs a real estate agency in Kelmscott.
Winning jockey Shaun O’Donnell was impressed with the way Playboy Persona went about his business on Thursday. “Shaun has been teaching him when to wait and when to go,” Poletti said. “The horse is learning all the time but is still six months away.”
Black Tom stands at Steve Hoare’s Rivercrest Park Stud in Stratham. The south-west nursery is also home to Famous Roman (Danetime) and Kendel Star (Kenmare).