Leon and Troy Corstens are busy building for spring and they might have found a couple of candidates for their B Team at Benalla on Sunday.

The Corstens lost Kaphero to Swettenham Stud and Fernandina to Hong Kong and you don’t replace horses of that calibre overnight.

Faster Stronger opened the Benalla card with a three length victory in the Barooga Sports Club Plate (1615m) to finally pay back the first instalment of his $250,000 price tag.

Faster Stronger (3c Stravinsky – Dane Dancer by Danehill) was offered by Cambridge Stud at the 2007 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale and Sir Patrick Hogan kept a share after he changed hands.

The colt has a stallion’s pedigree being by Stravinsky out of a winning three-quarter sister to Redoute’s Choice.  His dam Dane Dancer is also a three-quarter sister to Al Maher and a half-sister to Umatilla and Hurricane Sky.

Besides Sir Patrick, Faster Stronger is owned in partnership by Lakeview Resources and the Montague Park Syndicate and they also race Saranda who showed his first glimpse of form for some time when narrowly beaten in the final event at Benalla.

A son of G1 winning WA based sire Helenus, he raced up to the leaders at the furlong but was beaten a head and a short-neck by Lanefrost and Fandangle.

Saranda won on debut at Sandown last August and was immediately hailed a horse with a big future.  At the time, the stable rated him higher than Fernandina but, while he went backwards, Fernandina improved sufficiently to claim the Listed Vain Stakes and G3 Guineas Prelude at Caulfield.

Team Corstens have worked overtime trying to pin-point the problem that is hampering his progress.  Injury-free, Saranda can begin fulfilling the potential he promised 12 months ago.