Son of Vincent takes out Victoria Derby heat

The classy New Zealand bred 3-year-old (The Real) Sherlock showed he is a serious contender for this weekendʻs $200,000 Victoria Derby, with the son of Vincent winning the faster of the two Derby heats at Melton on Saturday night.

The Mark and Nathan Purdon trained pacer worked early from his wide draw before landing the one-one with 1600m to go.

Sprinting home in 25.89, the fastest last quarter of the night, (The Real) Sherlock finished over the top of Perfect Class and The Lost Storm, to score by a half-neck in a mile rate of 1:56.6 for the 2,760m trip.

The Group 2 Alabar Classic winner has now won eight of his lifetime starts and banked $144,483 in stakes earnings.

Bred by Spreydon Lodge, (The Real) Sherlock is out of the American Ideal mare After Party, a full sister to the New Zealand Group 1 winning filly Democrat Party.

At Gloucester Park the previous evening the Vincent filly Turn The Page went within a whisker of taking out the Group 1 WA Oaks.

The winner of the Group 3 Daintyʻs Daughter at her last start, Turn The Page raced three-wide without cover for the entire last lap and was only beaten by a nose at the line.

Bred by Alabar NZ Ltd, Turn The Page has won five of her nine starts to date, and finished second in a further three.

She is out of the Sands A Flyin mare Sheza Monkee, a full sister to the champion New Zealand racehorse Monkey King.