Zabeel gelding Menados was a brilliant first-up winner at Echuca on Monday and his three – quarter sister Tantrum can double up for the family at Sale on Thursday.

Tantrum (5m Savabeel – Tantamount by Last Tycoon) will be racing first-up after a 20 week spell in the Plastec Hcp (1100m) and will be all the better for the outing.  She won a 1200m Te Rapa maiden in 8 starts back home in New Zealand.

Flemington trainer Nigel Blackiston prepares both Kiwi bred gallopers and is confident Menados will make the grade after his very promising debut in the Moama RSL Maiden Plate (1400m) at Echuca.

Menados (Zabeel) was always prominent and, despite wandering about in the straight, had too much class for his rivals.  “He had won a jump-out at Flemington and we were reasonably confident of a good run,” trainer Nigel Blackiston explained.  “He’s still green but beat them with raw ability.”

Blackiston will step Menados up to 1600m for a Country Showcase at Bendigo September 11 before bringing him to town.

“He’s a typical Zabeel,” Blackiston said.  “I might keep him in training for a 2000 metre race at Flemington over the carnival before sending him out for another spell.”

Menados was originally passed-in at the 2009 NZ Bloodstock Premier yearling sale when part of the Soliloquy Lodge draft at Karaka.  “Ian Lewis sent Menados across from New Zealand a few months ago and he hasn’t stopped improving,” Blackiston said.  “Ian has raced some top-class NZ bred stayers like Shiva’s Revenge and Lord Luskin so hopefully this bloke goes all the way, too.”

Blackiston was Flemington foreman for Bart Cummings when Let’s Elope (NZ) and Shiva’s Revenge (NZ) gave the stable a Kiwi quinella in the 1991 Melbourne Cup.

“Menados is still very much a work in progress,” Blackiston added looking to the future.  “Watch out when he peaks next year!”

Menados is the third winner for Tantamount who won 6 races up to a mile in NZ.  She was also G2 placed at Pukekohe.

His older half-brother Golden Boy (Volksraad) won four races in Hong Kong and Tantrum can continue the winning run at Sale on Thursday.