Foreplay fans at Flemington

Flemington trainer Mat Ellerton has always been a Foreplay fan and he produced another promising winner by the Woodside Park sire at Warrnambool on Thursday.

Second Base (3g Foreplay – Choilaine by Choisir) started a $1.50 favourite first-up in the Matthew Williams Racing Maiden Plate (1100m) and coasted home to score by two lengths from Big Reel (O’Lonhro) and Incubate (Host).

Punters were confident he would be hard to run down following two placings at Seymour and a fourth at Moonee Valley earlier this season but Katelyn Mallyon was forced to ride him upside down after a moderate getaway.

“His jump-outs have been quick and I was really surprised he didn’t show that sort of speed today,” Mallyon said.  “He got back and relaxed which is good to see going forward.”

Second Base is a homebred for Ellerton and his training partner Simon Zahra and is also Super VOBIS qualified.  “He’s a beautiful horse and has shown us a lot at home,” Mallyon continued.  “There’s definitely a lot more improvement and he will measure up in town.”

Ellerton trained Foreplay for Scott and Matthew Perrin after making $625,000 at the 2003 Easter Yearling Sale.  A beautifully bred son of Danehill, he won the LR Doveton Stakes at Caulfield and finished third to Alinghi and Fastnet Rock in the G1 Newmarket Hcp.

Retired amid much fanfare to the Hunter Valley, his fertility rate bottomed out after three seasons at Yarraman Park but not before he sired the Ellerton-Zahra Group 3 winner That’s Not It.  He won the Red Anchor Stakes at Moonee Valley on the same day So You Think claimed his second Cox Plate.

That victory coincided with Foreplay’s transfer to Woodside Park where stem-cell treatment improved his fertility-rate to more than 80%.  He covers limited books at a $6,600 (inc gst) service fee.