It was simply an awesome resuming run by Desert Lightning at Pukekohe on Saturday. Given he was a winner of the Gr.2 AJC Avondale Guineas as a 3yo over 2100m and contested multiple 2000m+ races in his 3yo season, it was an exceptional first-up run for him to win dominantly over 1200m. Unlike many runs in Desert Lightning’s career, he landed handy to the speed on what was a pedestrian early tempo. From there, he let down sharply, putting his rivals away winning by 1.3L with some sharp closing splits. He looks to have come back in tremendous order, no doubt connections will have some big targets on his radar this campaign.