The Pencarrow Stud-bred Aspen (Alamosa) made a convincing race debut as he took out the $12,500 www.loganracing.co.nz Maiden Three-Year-Old 1400 at Ruakaka on Saturday.

The three-year-old colt was having his first start for Te Akau Racing’s Jason Bridgman following a number of educational trials, placing second in his latest at Te Teko last month.

The son of Alamosa jumped well to land outside the leader for jockey Matthew Cameron. The pair travelled well during the race and hit the front early in the straight and dashed away to score by two-and-a-quarter-lengths from stable mate King Savinsky (Savabeel).

“It was a nice win on debut from a wide draw, he is a horse that has shown us a lot at home,” commented Bridgman.

“He was a beautiful yearling, he is a terrific looking horse with a lot of scope, he is a good size and a lovely actioned horse with a beautiful temperament like we have seen most of the horses by Alamosa have had.”

“While I wasn’t surprised he was capable of winning I just thought from that barrier he has been shaping as a colt that will appreciate even further distance. He really had come on a good deal from his trial and crossed comfortably and it was good performance in a tidy field.

“He is in the Two Thousand Guineas at this stage. He has pulled up well but to me he looks like a horse that is going to continue to improve as he strengthens and is probably going to be a better autumn three-year-old but certainly on the score of natural ability he has plenty of that, we won’t rule out anything at the moment.

“We will see how he progresses through his next start, we haven’t confirmed what that will be yet, there is a possibility it will be the Hawkes Bay Guineas at the deep end of things or a soft option.”

Aspen was purchased by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale from Pencarrow Stud for $170,000 and is owned by the Te Akau Aspen Syndicate which Ellis manages.

Bred by Peter and Philip Vela, Aspen is a blueblood product of the great ‘Belle’ family. He is a half-sister to the Group 2 Queensland Guineas winner Winning Belle (Zabeel) and Group 3 Taranaki Cup winner Our Ella Belle (Encosta de Lago). His dam, Kirin Belle (McGinty), is also the granddam of Group 1 placegetters Light Brigade (Redoute’s Choice), Rawnaq (Redoute’s Choice) and Star Empire (Second Empire), a Group 2 winner in South Africa.

Kirin Belle foaled her last foal last season, a colt by Keeper to be retained by the Stud.