Lycurgus continues his winning ways

He has a sprinting pedigree, however Lycurgus continued his love affair over 2400m with his third metropolitan victory over the distance at Sandown on Saturday.

Favourite backers were cheering when the heavily tried son of Star Witness held off his rivals to secure the prize in the BM90 event.

Although Damien Oliver had to get busy over the concluding stages, the good run in transit saw the gelding overpower his rivals and then held off the fast-finishing Opposition with Falago holding third.

The victory completed a good 24 hours for trainer Danny O'Brien as he had trained a double at Werribee on Friday before adding another winner at Cranbourne that night.

O’Brien said the four-year-old was improving with each preparation as a stayer.

"That is two strong wins in town in a row at this distance and he just keeps getting better and stronger," O'Brien said.

He explained that although Lycurgus, who is by a gun sprinter in Star Witness out of a Testa Rossa mare, which on face value looks a sprinting pedigree, that wasn’t the case.

“We use PlusVital's pedigree analysis system called Equinome and that showed early on that he was going to be best suited when he got out to the staying trips and that gave us the confidence to take our time with him and set up his future career.”

Last Autumn, Lycurgus showed his staying potential with a strong win in the listed Galilee Series Final for three-year-olds over a mile-and-a-half at Caulfield.

Saturday's win was the $70,000 Inglis Easter Sales graduate fifth from 26 starts and soared his prizemoney earnings past $300,000.

Pic by Racing Photos