Lundholm, Nestor strike in Gilgandra carnival opener

The four-year-old had been placed second three times in eight starts prior to yesterday, with those performances enough to convince Lundholm to keep going with son of former top two-year-old Zizou.

The patience he has shown was rewarded yesterday when Zizousa ($2.40, Kody Nestor) scored an effortless three-and-a-half-length victory.

From the outside barrier in the field of six Nestor pushed forward and sat outside the early leader Gillie Mooch ($4.40, Martin Haley).

Almost immediately Zizousa was in control of the race, and while Lundholm conceded he had been burned by the horse at prior starts he had nothing to worry about as Nestor simply let the horse extend in the last 200m.

Stir It Up ($2.20 fav, Jake Pracey-Holmes) finished second, with My Strong Heart ($11.00, Kazu Nakata) a further two lengths away in third place.

The time for the 1000m was 1:00.27.

“I told Kody not to ride him too pretty because he’s immature and has some tricks that have cost him in the past,” Lundholm said.

“When they got to the 300m Kody was still sitting pretty quiet on him but he put three on them late and won like a decent horse.

“I came here today thinking the only way he would get beat was if he beat himself, and I think he will take some confidence out of that.”

Zizousa is owned by David Ringland, who has been a long-term supporter of Lundholm.

“Dave was really the bloke who came to me early on when I finished riding and asked if I wanted to train,” Lundholm said.

“I’ve only got a couple in work for him at the moment but we’ve had a winner at Mendooran recently and now a win with this horse so it’s great to get results.”

Meanwhile, Lundholm is also quietly confident his tough old campaigner Mossamine will be hard to beat in Sunday’s $30,000 Gilgandra Bowling Club Gilgandra Cup (1600m).