First starter Viallico showed that the Flemington straight track was no problem for him when he impressively won the Flying Spur Handicap this afternoon.

Viallico ($13.00) powered away from his opposition to win by 2½ lengths from Berryland ($5.00-$8.00) with a half neck to late closer Drumbeats ($4.40-$.00-$5.00).

"The doubt with him was whether he would be able to adapt to the straight course", said Gina Mata, Assistant Trainer to Danny O'Brien.

"All his work here has been around a bend."

"Its always hard for two year olds especially coming down the outside rail."

The ride on Viallico was a reward for Jamie Mott, a regular trackwork rider for O'Brien.

"I've ridden him in trackwork a couple of times and he's always shown to be a nice horse", said Mott.

Mata gave credit to Mott who brought up his 100th winner for the season on Viallico.

"Jamie waited until he got him onto the course proper, switched him on and away he went", Mata said.

"It may have been a bit daunting for him."

"He's an immature horse, big and lanky and he handled it very well."

Viallico is yet another of the horses bred by the Chittick family of Waikato Stud which have found their way into the Danny O'Brien stable.

"The Chitticks have entrusted us with a lot of their horses privately and we've purchased a lot of their horses commercially so they're reaping the benefits", Mata explained.

Viallico was purchased for $75,000 by O'Brien for a new group of owners at the New Zealand Premier Yearling Sale last year.

Mata suggested that Viallico would stay i work in the hope of picking up another race or two while the opposition was not too strong.

Viallico "He may have done enough to warrant a little bit of a break but with Winter coming along we'll probably keep him in the stable ticking along and start off like we did with our other three year olds last season", he said.

The O'Brien stable has something of a history of racing their good horses against the weakest opposition they can find.

Mata is confident that Viallico will go onto win better races than he did today.

"He handled everything with aplomb as the margin showed", he said.

Return To Scale "We're pretty optimistic that he can measure up."

Viallico is yet another of the progeny of Pins to have enjoyed success in the O'Brien stable. Smart gallopers Gallopin, Pins On Parade and Crepe de Chine are all stakeswinners bred by Waikato which O'Brien has trained.

Viallico is the second foal to race from the Centaine mare Zephuros. She is a daughter of New Zealand Oaks winner Zepherin and also a sister to Group 2 Surround Stakes winner Glenview.

Glenview is the granddam of Melbourne Cup third placegetter Zazzman, which suggests that Viallico may well get much further than today's 1000m.

Photos: Quentin Lang