Esprit de Bullet 29/12/08

Impressive debut by Esprit De Bullet
SIMON WHITE
December 29, 2008 12:00am
MARK Lewis has lofty ambitions for Esprit De Bullet, an impressive debut winner of Friday's Evright.com Handicap (1000m) at Cheltenham.
While the former Morphettville trainer's immediate plans for Esprit De Bullet extend only to returning to Ballarat and finding a nice 1200m race in Melbourne, in the longer term he intends to target the $755,000 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 7.
Esprit De Bullet, a half-brother to 2005 VRC Oaks Winner Hollow Bullet, lived right up to his breeding with a barnstorming finish along the rail to beat favourite Just Sybil by a long neck.
"He's got no idea," Lewis said of the green youngster, who was a handful in the yard pre-race.
"We thought he could probably win but until you get them out there, you never know. He actually had three jump-outs and led in all of them, but he didn't have that speed today."
Esprit De Bullet's win was all the more meritorious because of the chequered passage he had in the straight.
The son of Bel Esprit was twice disappointed for a run but when jockey Craig Robertson spotted a gap the colt sprinted quickly and confidently shouldered his way into the open.
"We'll take him straight back to Ballarat and find a good race for him in the city," Lewis said.
"It was a great ride. The horse is still learning but he's been very well educated.
"He'll be given time to grow and develop and he'll take a lot of benefit from today.
"Down the track we'll look at the Australian Guineas. I reckon he's a miler."
The form behind Esprit De Bullet might be worth following, with runner-up Just Sybil again catching the eye after her brilliant debut at Strathalbyn the previous week.