Untouchable Ed (NZ) (Contributer) seemingly didn’t know what to do when having his first start at Bendigo on Sunday, but his lack of race smarts wasn’t enough to prevent him from winning comfortably.

The four-year-old Contributer gelding trained by Symon Wilde settled rearward from the second widest barrier in the $35,000 Adroit Insurance & Risk Maiden Plate (1300m). Untouchable Ed was last in the 10-horsfield with 250 metres remaining but swamped his rivals, scoring by two
lengths.

Harry Coffey had time to ease Untouchable Ed at the finish but the winning rider explained the Kiwi-bred was a handful mid-race.

“He wasn’t brilliantly away and my instructions were to not be too excited, he was in the market but they wanted him to get cover and learn a lot from the experience and if he was to win then that’s the benefit from today’s outing,” Coffey said.

“I just bided my time out the back of the field, he was really green, moving around in the run a lot. He took a lot of guiding, he’s still very new still, very raw.

“He’s a bit of a lad, he plays around with his head and likes to move the bridle around a fair bit in his mouth. I just had to go with him and make sure the experience was nice.

“When I pulled him out in the straight I thought, ‘oh we’ll get home and run a nice third’ and then I gave him a nudge and he took off into top gear and was too good.”

Coffey suggested Untouchable Ed was a likely candidate to work through his classes, although his future may belong in Asia as he is owned by David Price, a noted form analyst and bloodstock trader based in Hong Kong.

“He’ll go on and win nicer races,”

Coffey said. “Another 1400-metre race maybe for him next time because he has to go up in grade and it’s tougher but after that a mile and beyond will be his go.

“It’s pretty exciting to see what he can do when he knows what’s going on because today he was pretty green.”

Untouchable Ed was purchased for NZ$50,000 by John Foote Bloodstock from The Oaks Stud's 2019 Book 1 draft at Karaka, and was bred by Martin Dalgleish, a long-time client of The Oaks Stud.

He is out of the unraced Bianconi mare Bianca Bay who produced Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) winner Dukedom (NZ) (Bachelor Duke).