Wins don’t come much more impressive than that achieved by the Shane and Adam Barling trained Cool Gent when he won the Listed Oxlade Stakes over 1200m in an eye-catching last-to-first performance two weeks ago … and he gets the chance to frank that form when he runs in the Listed Tattersalls Stakes over 1400m at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

That last-to-first description needs some clarifying.

This was not a question of not being too far back and peeling off to produce a race winning finish. This was Cool Gent being comprehensively outpaced early … after an exaggerated drop off the pace when jumping from a number thirteen out of fourteen barrier draw … and he was still racing a lonely last, all of eleven lengths off the lead and nearly four lengths behind the second last horse coming through with 800m left to run.

At that stage you would have been forgiven for believing the betting market, which had Cool Gent as a $31 chance, had got it right. You wouldn’t necessarily have changed your mind coming to the home turn where Cool Gent had tagged onto the field, but he was still a full seven lengths off the main action … still in last place … with Tyler Schiller starting to angle the Barling-trained runner away from the rail.

Still at the rear of the field with 300m left to run and having made only marginal progress between the 300m and 200m marks, Cool Gent suddenly changed the whole complexion of his race, surging forward, taking a path in-between runners to arrive at the 50m mark with the far more simple, but still testing, dual task of having only one rival left to run down and one equally fast-finishing runner behind him to hold off.

With momentum now fully on Cool Gent’s side, the two-year-old handled both of those tasks with some aplomb, getting home to claim his second win in only his fourth career start.

Two points to note.

The Oxlade Stakes win came over 1200m and was contested on a heavy racing surface. Both of those details suggest that Cool Gent will not be troubled with the step up to 1400m on Saturday.

A heavy surface will clearly be in Cool Gent’s favour (he has won on both soft and heavy going) … but … a question mark does come into play if the going gets into the good range with Cool Gent having run on that surface twice where he was soundly beaten on both occasions.

More on the plus side is the fact that Cool Gent, with his four starts, is still learning his trade and, with the results he has already achieved, there can be little to criticise.

Adding to the pleasure of the Oxlade Stakes win for connections is the fact that Cool Gent was a $9,000 purchase who has now already earned $131,865 in only four starts.

The open nature of the Tattersalls Stakes is reflected in the betting with five of the thirteen runners quoted at odds ranging from $4.20 to $9 … with Cool Gent being an $8 chance.

That $4.20 favourite is the Godolphin-owned, Michael Freedman-trained Tannin who has only raced once, winning on debut over 1200m on soft going at the restrictive odds of $1.60 with top online betting sites.

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