Southland raider Firoden made the best possible start to his winter campaign when taking out the Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup Trial (1400m) at Ashburton on Thursday.

The six-year-old settled towards the rear of the field for jockey Rohan Mudhoo where he remained for the majority of the journey and trainer Leda Beck admitted to being slightly concerned with his placement in the field midway through the race.

She needn’t have worried, with Mudhoo finding clear running room out wide turning for home where Firoden was able to wear down his opposition to win by 1-1/4 lengths over Louie Louie, with a further neck back to Silent Battler in third.

“I was really pleased with his run,” Beck said. “Back to 1400m and he finished it off well.

“I was a little bit worried at the 800m, but it all worked out.

“He (Rohan) cut the corner and gave him every opportunity. It was a good ride.”

Beck was confident with her charge heading into the race and was pleased to keep his strong fresh-up record intact.

“He has always gone quite good fresh. I wasn’t too worried, although it might have been a little bit short,” she said.

“He is bred to sprint better than stay. As long as we keep him fresh, he seems to be alright.”

Beck said it is a long way to travel from her Winton base, but Firoden handled the 14-hour round trip to Canterbury well.

“It is a long way and he travelled well, but we just don’t want to do it too often,” she said.

They are set to repeat the journey in a few weeks’ time, with Firoden set to travel a further hour north to contest the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations 125^th Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton.

“The Winter Cup will be his next start,” Beck said.

“We will just play it by ear after that and pick and choose what comes up. There are a lot of races to choose from over the next six months.”

The son of Denman is a versatile horse, having competed up to two miles, finishing 12^th in the Gr.3 Wellington Cup (3200m) at Trentham earlier this year, but Beck said she will be more inclined to keep him to shorter trips this time in.

“It was probably a bit of a mistake going to the Wellington Cup,” Beck said.

“He is such an honest horse, he can turn his hand to anything, but we might not look at the Wellington Cup again.”