The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable were expecting a positive debut at Sandown from Daggers but did not see the demolition job he did on his rivals.
A half-brother to stablemate Muramasa, Daggers showed a scintillating turn of foot to claim the Tobin Brothers Celebrating Lives Plate (1300m) on Wednesday.
Muramasa was successful over 1400m at Sale on debut before progressing to the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) later in the spring, but Busuttin and Young will keep Daggers to shorter trips.
Daggers, a son of I Am Invincible, was picked up for $260,000 as a yearling and has impressed Busuttin and Young from the day he entered their Cranbourne stable.
Ridden by Luke Currie, Daggers ($7) raced to a 4-¼ length win from the $3.20 favourite Athanatos with Honey Maker ($41) a further 1-¼ lengths away third.
“He’s an impressive looking horse,” Busuttin said.
“He was a cheap I Am Invincible, only $260,000 as he was a skinny, narrow horse and then he ballooned sideways.
“We’ve always liked the horse from the very early days, but his jump-outs haven’t been quite as sharp as his trackwork and we were second guessing ourselves, but his last couple of gallops had been very good.”
Busuttin said the stable was a touch worried with the 1300m trip on debut and would have preferred the race had been 1200m.
“He had been sharp in trackwork, but in his jump-outs, very dumb,” Busuttin said.
“I thought he would just jump and trial up like a jet, but he didn’t. He trialled up good, but not like we expected, and he won like how he worked, not how he trialled.
“We were hoping to see that, but more often than not, they make liars out of you, so it’s good to see them do it.”
Busuttin said Daggers knows he’s a colt, just like Muramasa did before he was gelded, but that is where the similarities end.
“He can carry on a bit, but he behaved himself pretty well today and behaved where it counted,” Busuttin said.
“At this time of year there’s always first starters from good stables and you don’t know what you’re up against, but he quickened up nicely.”
Busuttin said the stable would let Daggers get over Wednesday’s debut before plotting a path to, hopefully, some richer spring races.