Trainer Peter Moody says the Listed ANZAC Day Stakes at Flemington looms as an option to give our @magicmillions Maldini another crack at a stakes race in his juvenile season after the colt broke through for a maiden win at Pakenham on Thursday night.

Maldini, a son of Too Darn Hot, was unplaced in both the Merson Cooper Stakes and the Magic Millions Vic 2YO Classic at Caulfield earlier this season before resuming from a break with a second to Legacy Bound in a Ballarat maiden earlier this month.

Sent out a $4.80 chance in Thursday night’s 1200m 2YO Maiden at Pakenham, Maldini, ridden by Zac Spain, sat three-wide near the pace and strode to the front approaching the 200m before holding off The Opportunist to score by three-quarters of a length.

Moody, who trains in partnership with Katherine Coleman, indicated Maldini had always shown ability but added his performance in the ANZAC Day Stakes next Friday - should he run there - could determine whether Maldini remains a colt for his spring campaign or is gelded.

“As you’ve seen from the races he has run in, we’ve always had a good opinion of him,” Moody said in his post-race interview.

“He’s racing for his manhood tonight, and he maybe heard me talk about that because he’s just taken a while to get his mind wrapped around it.

“I think this will be a pretty handy little two-year-old race … so we might give him his chance on ANZAC Day in the 1400m at Flemington and then he probably has a break, and that run would determine whether he resumes in the spring as a colt or a gelding.”

Moody believes 1400m and potentially 1600m in time will suit Maldini.

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