Brutal races to impressive win on debut

Two-year-old colt Brutal has started his race career in impressive fashion with a dominant all-the-way win in a late-season race at Caulfield.

The Hawkes Racing-trained colt stepped out in Saturday’s Ladbrokes.com.au Handicap (1200m) for two-year-olds and was able to dominate the race from the front under jockey Dwayne Dunn.

Brutal ($5) railed and kicked strongly off the home bend then continued to extend in the straight to win by five lengths over fellow debutant Ronan’s Rock, with $2.80 favourite Humma Humma another half length away third.

Ronan’s Rock ($3.50) was able to regroup and finish second after knuckling shortly after the start.

“He’s a nice horse,” Dunn said of Brutal.

“He’s always shown us a lot. He’s probably in at the right time of year just to get some experience because he’s still a kid.

“He had them pretty well beaten a long way from home today.”

Dunn said Brutal will continue to get better as he gets a bit older.

“They’ll have a lot of fun with him,” he said.

Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said immediate plans for Brutal were still to be decided.

“We just wanted to see what happened today, but it’s a good position to be in,” Hawkes said.

“When he really quickened and flattened out it was quite impressive I thought.”