FORMER imported stayer Lord Belvedere raced into spring racing calculations winning the $135,000 Harry White Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.
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Lord Belvedere, having only his third Australian start for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace training combination, defeated his stablemate The Statesman by two lengths with San Remo back in third place in the 2500-metre race.
Maher said the lightly raced five-year-old would be targetted for feature staying races over the spring.
"We're still learning about Lord Belvedere," he said.
"He's got plenty of upside and when you win a race like that so impressively it's only natural that talk comes up about races like the Melbourne Cup.
"We'll just take him along slowly and see if he can measure up to the Melbourne Cup.
"There's a lot of water to go under the bridge before he's qualified for the Cup.
"He's a natural stayer and that's a big plus when you start thinking about staying races over the spring."
Lord Belvedere's win was part of a three state treble for the Maher-Eustace stable.
Azuro won the Queensland Cup while Dr Drill gave apprentice jockey Teo Nugent his first Sydney winner when he won a restricted race at Randwick.
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