Trainer’s confidence on the money

Tony Pike’s expectations were met at New Plymouth where promising three-year-old Eliud romped to his maiden victory.The Cambridge horseman was confident the son of Almanzor would deliver over 1400 metres off the back of a runner-up finish when resuming.“His run at Matamata was very good and with that under his belt, I thought he would be very hard to beat,” Pike said.“He’s a nice, big and scopey horse who is only going to get better as he gets older.”The gelding was quickly into stride to make the running under Lisa Allpress and she was in the fun zone over the closing 200 metres with her mount dashing clear to be out on his own by 5.8l at the post.Eliud was bred by Kevin Hickman and sold through Valachi Downs’ draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale for $320,000 to Waikato Bloodstock on behalf of Hong Kong interests.He is a son of the Rip Van Winkle mare Pendleton, whose four successes included the Listed Dunedin Gold Cup, and she is from the family of the G1 Telegraph Handicap winner Adventador.