Slashing victory for Steve Wolfe’s rising four-year-old Little Silver at season opener in Great Southern

Progressive four-year-old Little Silver was a slashing winner at Percy Spencer Racecourse to start the new Great Southern season with a bang on Sunday. The raging $1.40 favourite was sent forward by jockey Alan Kennedy and never faltered from there, sprinting clear as the field turned for home and going on to score by more than four lengths. The Steve Wolfe-trained gelding was in a class of his own in the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame Perth 23rd November Handicap (1500m) and has now won three of his 13 career starts. However this effort, beating Fly Better by four-and-a-half lengths was the most impressive to date. Wolfe said it was a very encouraging performance from one of his young stable stars. “He was good and got the job done really well,” he said. “He has been a work in progress and was unlucky at Bunbury the other day. “He has always been better than Albany class type of horse and that was quite impressive. “Whether he starts here or goes away, probably goes to town but hopefully he can go through his grades.” The result completed a strong weekend for Wolfe after recording two winners at Ascot on Saturday with young stars Beads and Hang Glider. Both horses won over 1000m in metropolitan grade and are in contention for the lucrative $350,000 The Bluff Knoll (1099m) in March. There was another dominant victory at the season-opening meeting in the Great Southern. Final Siren made a sizzling debut for trainer Rebecca Wallrodt, winning the first race by more than five lengths. An impressive winner of a recent 1000m trial, the I’m All The Talk gelding was well supported into $2.50 favourite in race one. Jockey Kyra Yuill led on Final Siren and then surged clear in the final 200m to win by 5.6 lengths in an eye-catching first career start. Stewards fined jockey Austin Galati $300 for not making the allotted weight on Rocapozzene in race six and trainer Roy Rogers was fined $200 for not requesting permission for the same runner to be ridden one kilogram over the allotted weight of 54kg. Athlone Castle bled from both nostrils in race six and will be retired while Ricky’s Ora was sent back to trials after a poor performance in race five.