Connections of Art Of The Storm were rewarded for their patience yesterday.
Crossing the border from Mount Gambier to Stawell, trainer David Phillips prepared Art Of The Storm to score first-up since last June.
In between runs, the son of The Storm Inside had his preparation interrupted by numerous setbacks.
“I had him going along nicely a few times and some niggles would come along,” Phillips said. “One was a foot abscess which really took its toll.
“It burst out the whole hoof and he was hobbling around for a while.
“Everything has come good with him now, so hopefully he can get on with racing.”
With James Herbertson in the cart, Art Of The Storm was settled towards the tail of the field from his second row draw as Firey Stars led from the pole.
Sustaining a strong three-wide run from the back straight, Art Of The Storm grabbed the lead in the last stride to score by a head from Just Like Nugget, which was game after working overtime in the ‘death seat’.
Jansen was five metres away third as the winner rated 2:01.1 over 1785 metres.
“That was a terrific effort from him,” Phillips said. “It was only six days shy of being a year since he last raced, so he was in need of a hit out.
“I felt as though I had him as fit as I could get him without racing, and although he wasn’t fully wound up, he still gave it his all.
“He is a nice horse and I think he can go through the grades.”
