Shocking Luck has produced a superior staying effort to win the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) in Brisbane; the final race on 2017 Doomben 10,000 Day.

Shocking Luck had just that when second at Ipswich on debut in Australia last week, but the horse was out to make his own this afternoon and took an ideal position in transit within the Rough Habit Plate field as Sidetrip led the field past the post the first time.

Settling into a great rhythm and receiving a carefree run in transit, jockey Opie Bosson produced the son of Shocking with 300m to run and was greeted with a big turn of foot as the horse charged clear of his rivals and found the line three lengths ahead of closest rival Order Again.

Co-trainer Jamie Richards was pleased with the horse’s performance to win the Rough Habit Plate and confirmed that he in on a path towards the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) in four weeks’ time.

“He ran realty well in the Waikato Guineas back home and we thought he looked like a good Queensland Derby horse,” Richards said.

“He’s got a couple more runs here for us and hopefully the tracks can continue to improve, because we believe that he is better on top of the ground.

“Today was a very good run, he’s a straight out New Zealand staying horse. He’s a big skinny horse and really pleased with the way everything’s gone.

“I said at Ipswich that he couldn’t have done that he couldn’t have done that running second over a mile three or four months ago.

“He’s always needed ground – he’s only ever won over 2000m, so he’s an exciting horse to have in the stable.”

Shocking Luck has only made seven competitive appearances at the races so far, but has now posted two wins and a further three minors and appears as though he will only improve when he gets out to a mile-and-a-half.