Commanding fresh victory

Order of Command repaid his patient connections with an strong victory first-up at Geelong on Friday.

After switching the horse to Danny O’Brien’s care last year, his owners have backed the Cox Plate winning trainer by allowing the horse to have two lengthy spells before getting back to the races for his new trainer.

“He just needed time to mature as he had plenty of aches and pains. They weren’t major, but he just wasn’t ready to be pushed so we gave him time and today he went part of the way to repaying his owners faith,” O’Brien said.

Jockey Damien Oliver found himself in an awkward spot three back on the fence in running aboard the race favourite, but after biding his time he was able to get he son of Squamosa into the clear and he charged hard to claim his first maiden victory at start four.

“He has a nice future as that was really impressive the way he found the line late,” Oliver said.

O’Brien was confident the gelding could progress to better races in the future.

“He came to the races forward enough to win, but he was always going to improve on whatever he did after having so long since his last race,” O’Brien said.

The win was also sweet for connections as the horse is Super Vobis qualified and they collected the breeders bonus as well the ownership spoils.

“The Super Vobis scheme is great for the industry and that just adds a nice cherry on top of the victory for Steve Paino and his crew.”

Pic by Racing Photos