Rising 4yo HARD LINER had to prove himself at Canberra on Wednesday and that he did.
The Joe Pride-trained gelding hadn’t troubled the scorer in three previous starts around the greater Sydney region so a trip to the nation’s capital for a confidence booster beckoned.
Lining up against some very moderate opposition in the 1280m maiden, HARD LINER justified his standing in the market ($2.70 favourite) with a commanding 1.1 length victory under the urgings of apprentice jockey Molly Bourke.
The son of OLE KIRK was forced to come widest on the home turn of Canberra’s Acton track, but once he hit top gear, had the race in his keeping.
Despite coming from a predominantly speed-oriented family, HARD LINER is giving every indication he is looking for distances beyond a sprint trip so it will be interesting to see if he can improve once he gets out to a mile.
“He has a massive building stride this horse, he will get over further,” Bourke remarked post-race.
“He’s still learning so more racing is only going to benefit him but a great result today to get the maiden win out of the way.”
HARD LINER was a $160,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling from B2B Thoroughbreds and becomes Proven Thoroughbreds’ 38th winner for season 2025-26.
