LINK MAN (Anthony Delpech), in his first attempt over 1450m, ran out a comfortable winner of the Grade 3 Tony Ruffel Stakes at Turffontein’s inside track on Saturday.

The son of Toreador changed gears at the 400m mark and turned the race into a procession, leaving the well-performed Shea Shea 2.25 lengths in his wake, with another smart sort Captain’s Key a further 0.75 lengths back in third.

Link Man was returning from a short break and Mike commented from Dubai: “We’ve been looking to race him around the bend, because he’s been running on strongly in his sprints. He was impressive, he ran to expectations and he’s a bright prospect for the rest of the season.”

Mike said that he was planning to run Link Man in the Queen’s Plate over 1600m, but that he was a bit jarred up after his close second to Mr Mickey Mouse in a 1160m sprint at Turffontein last November.

Link Man, the 2010 Gold Medallion winner, was bred by the Tawny Syndicate and is owned by the partnership of Larry Nestadt, Greg Blank and Gary Burg, who will be looking forward to the forthcoming Highveld Autumn Season.

Photo: Link Man (blue silks), runs on well under Anthony Delpech to win the Tony Ruffel.