TORO Rosso (BRZ) impressed his connections and supporters when he stayed on gamely from the graveyard draw in a hard-run SAP Supreme Cup on sand at the Vaal recently.

Mary Slack’s lightly-raced four-year-old gelding had shown a liking for the surface with two wins from four runs, but showed that he can give of his best on turf too when beating a decent bunch in a MR102 Handicap over 1450m on the inside track at Turffontein on Saturday.

Toro Rosso won well under a big weight. (JC Photos)

This win under Weichong Marwing delighted assistant trainer Mathew de Kock because Toro Rosso stamped himself as a formidable November Charity Mile contender and he said: “Toro Rosso won his Maiden on turf but we wanted him to confirm that he could win in strong company and he came through the test well here today.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s three-year-old gelding Baahir was slapped with an 87 merit rating after winning first time out at Scottsville in February. He’d battled to win since, but found the right company off at significant;y lower 76-rating and won well over 2600m for jockey JP van der Merwe.

Baahir:  Staying is his game.

Mathew said: “Baahir is a young horse still. To win over this distance as an early three-year-old is actually quite promising for us. He will keep improving as he matures and there are some stayers’ events that will suit him.”

Having also won over 1200m indicates that Baahir packs a bit more class than his formline seems to suggest at this stage of his career. The son of Galileo is one to keep an eye on as the season progresses.