The spring riches could be calling for the untapped three-year-old from the bush Front Page who made a mess of his city rivals on the big stage at Flemington on Saturday with a devasting win in the 2020 A.R. Creswick Stakes.

Last year’s A.R. Creswick Stakes winner Gytrash went on to become a Group 1 winner at Flemington. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Prepared by Corowa horseman Geoff Duryea, the Magnus gelding had been racing well in easier company coming into the Listed $112,000 A.R. Creswick Stakes (1200m) at HQ on the back of successive sprint wins at Albury and Wangaratta.

In a massive class rise, the up-and-comer relished a drop-in weight and was ultra-impressive down the iconic Flemington ‘Straight Six’ putting a huge margin on his rivals late in the feature three-years-old sprint.

With apprentice Lewis German retaining the ride, Front Page travelled supremely well throughout and then kicked off a good speed to win the Black-Type on the card running away.

It was a fairy tale result for the stable with his trainer, a former Melbourne Cup jockey, celebrating his first Flemington win in 14 years.

Stable rep Paul Duryea said the team were wrapped with the victory and would assess how the horse pulled up before confirming any future racing plans.

“We’re wrapped, really wrapped,” he told the media post-win.

“He’s a laid-back horse and Lewis, it was another A-grade ride from him.

“He let down good so we’re wrapped.

“He doesn’t care about anything…he just does whatever you want to do.

“We knew he had ability. Obviously, it was a big step up, but we thought if he raced up to what he was showing us we could run top three but obviously, to win like that was a massive bonus.

“At this stage he’ll go to the paddock we just wanted to come down and test him out.

“Maybe some spring plans but we’ll just see how he pulls up and go from there.”

The form out of the A.R. Creswick Stakes in recent years has more than stacked-up in tougher grade with Nature Strip (2018) and Gytrash (2019) both taking out the feature ahead of subsequent Group 1 victories.

It was the Anthony Freedman-trained King Of Hastings that the punters wanted in the Creswick this winter, but the well-backed favourite found himself facing the breeze up on the speed and failed to finish in the money looking more suited to an off-the-pace run over further.

Merited meanwhile led the field around, while German had the eventual winner Front Page tracking beautifully in fourth then third as the race became a real scrimmage for positions at the furlong mark.

It was Front Page ($11) who went to the lead and kicked right away, quickly putting the result to bed with a two and three-quarter length gap back to the second placed roughie Hi Stranger ($51).

Pacemaker Merited ($41) held for third also at a price, while Alburq ($19) rounded out a First Four that paid huge dividends.

2020 A.R. Creswick Stakes Results & Finishing Order

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	10	FRONT PAGE	Geoff Duryea	Lewis German (a)		10	58kg		$11
	2	4	HI STRANGER	Shane Fliedner	Jye McNeil	2.75L	9	59kg		$51
	3	13	MERITED	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Mark Zahra	2.85L	2	56kg		$41
	4	3	ALBURQ	Michael Moroney	Daniel Stackhouse	3.05L	13	59kg		$19
	5	2	HAWKER HURRICANE	Michael Moroney	Jordan Childs	3.15L	11	60kg		$21
	6	12	THAT GIRL	Phillip Stokes	Ben Thompson	3.9L	1	56kg		$21
	7	11	KALKARNI ROYALE	Kevin Corstens	Dwayne Dunn	4.65L	3	57kg		$15
	8	9	SCORPIUS	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Jamie Kah	6.15L	12	58kg		$12
	9	1	KING OF HASTINGS	Anthony Freedman	Craig Williams	6.25L	6	60kg		$2.50F
	10	6	LUCIFER’S REWARD	Brendan McCarthy	Jamie Mott	6.35L	5	58kg		$201
	11	8	RUN TO PERFECTION	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	11.35L	4	58kg		$13
	12	14	TO HER DOOR	John Sadler	Craig Newitt	14.1L	14	56kg		$201
	13	5	BROADWAYANDFOURTH	Mitchell Freedman	Ben Melham	15.35L	8	58kg		$6.50
	14	7	I AM ELOQUENT	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Regan Bayliss	16.1L	7	58kg		$12

Table Credit: Racing Australia.