Andrew Carston now sits on 30 wins for the season after recording a winning double at Ashburton on Thursday.

Three-year-old gelding Dettifoss got Carston’s day off to a flyer when winning the MLM Construction (1400m) by 6-1/2 lengths.

Carston has plenty of time for the son of Sacred Falls and believes he has plenty of upside.

“I think Dettifoss is a pretty smart horse,” Carston said. “He was unlucky last start, so we went into today with a fair bit of confidence and he won well.

“He is still mentally fragile. He will only improve going into his four-year-old year.”

Stablemate Where’s Wally secured the double with victory in the Simmo, Steve & Greeno (1200m).

It was the gelding’s second consecutive win and Carston admitted to being pleasantly surprised by the result.

“I thought today was a pretty strong race, so I didn’t actually expect him to win, so I am really happy he got the job done,” Carston said.

Now on equal terms with his previous best season tally, recorded last year, Carston still has a few weeks to better the mark and he said he is looking forward to the spring with a couple of stable runners.

“I am really happy to keep the ball rolling,” he said. “I am probably unlucky not to have won a Listed race this season, but I have got some nice progressive horses going into the spring.

“Milford Sound has come back in good order and Art De Triomphe is a pretty exciting filly going into the spring as well.”

Ocean Park gelding wins Ramornie

The John O’Shea-trained Southern Lad won the time-honoured Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) at Grafton on Wednesday under a perfectly-timed Christian Reith ride.

The six-year-old gelding, who sports the colours of Champion Thoroughbreds, notched the sixth win of his career from 32 starts, when coming from midfield to get the better of the favourite Phobetor.

“He needs that kind of ride and it was perfect,” O’Shea told news.com.au.

“The Mark Newnham horse wasn’t taking him anywhere, so it was really good to get a gun run like that.

“We were keen to stay one-off so we weren’t dictated to and when he got a bit of clear air he was going to be hard to hold out because his work on Saturday was first class.”

Bred by Greg Tomlinson’s Nearco Stud, Southern Lad is one of 16 stakes winners by high-class Waikato Stud sire Ocean Park, and is out of the Orientate mare Distinctive Lass.

Southern Lad is the fourth stakes winner out of Distinctive Lass, who is also the dam of Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner Kahma Lass, in addition to Kuro and Distinctive Darci.

Distinctive Lass visited Darci Brahma last season.

Fitzsimmons hoping better barrier is worth its weight of Gold

Tim Fitzsimmons is hoping that honest mare Gold City can bounce back to her winning ways in Singapore this Saturday.

The Sufficient seven-year-old may have had only two runs for Fitzsimmons, but he would still have a fair idea how to get the best out of her. He was around as the assistant-trainer when she was prepared by his former boss Cliff Brown.

After Brown returned to Australia to continue his training career earlier in the year, Gold City was among a dozen of horses who were transferred to his former right-hand man.

Fitzsimmons had been hoping for two elements to enhance Gold City’s chances – a handy barrier and a bit of rain. The first box is ticked with barrier two, he will now do a rain dance.

“She got there too soon at her last start, she was left a sitting duck, but there was no other choice after she was caught wide from her wide barrier,” Fitzsimmons said.

“It was still a good run considering she was second-up over 1800m. There were no 1800m races till the end of the month, so we went for this mile race instead. The race doesn’t look overly strong, but it’s still an even field.

“But the barriers will be important. She drew two, so that’s perfect, but she also likes a bit of sting out of the track.

“Her legs are great, I’m happy with her, there is still life in those legs. It’s just that as she’s an older horse now, it’d be nice to have a kinder surface for her.

“She’s an easy mare to train, she works a lot on the hill tracks. I hope she’s well and can run well.”

After teaming up with the Gold Stable-owned galloper at her last start, four-time Singapore champion jockey and current premiership leader Vlad Duric will again get the leg-up at her 31st start, for what can be described as a very light workload in five campaigns for a rising eight.

“We’ve looked after her. She’s sound and there is no reason why there wouldn’t be another couple of seasons left in her, and why not – another couple of wins, too,” Fitzsimmons said.