MICHAEL Hickmott has reason to get excited about what the future might hold for Mulder, but the Murray Bridge trainer will not be diverting from his business plan with the unbeaten gelding.
The son of Foxwedge remains on the market.
In fact, Hickmott had agreed to part with the untapped speedster before Saturday’s $100,000 Mac Drink Driving? Grow Up Handicap (1050m).
But the sale fell through, leaving Hickmott and connections available to celebrate a fourth-straight win with the three-year-old.
“I knocked back a lot of money for him after he trialled, so he’s gone through the grades,” Hickmott said.
“I was a bit pig-headed because they wanted to haggle with me. Anyway we had an offer on the table after his last start, they played funny buggers and dropped the offer $50,000 after it was accepted.
“I said, ‘don’t worry, he’ll win next start and you can pay more for him’.
“They’re going to want to pay pretty big money. He’s a very good horse.”
Despite the price going up, Hickmott expects the phone to continue to ring on the strength of Saturday’s performance.
At his first metropolitan start Mulder ($10) powered home along the inside fence to defeat Group 2-placed filly Samara Dancer ($6) by 1.25 lengths, with $4 favourite Sacred Sham three-quarters-of-a length back third.
“He still doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Hickmott said.
“The sectionals the figures he puts out are unbelievable.”
Mulder was ridden to victory by Shayne Cahill, but Hickmott paid tribute to the work not only Matthew Neilson has done in his career but also Jordan Frew, who does a lot of his preparatory work.
