Creative Venture made a very promising debut when beaten by only half-a-length in the five-year-old maiden at Moig South back in October. Given a patient ride in a strongly run contest, the son of Mahler still had much of the field in front of him with a mile to race. Still in fourth jumping the second-last fence, the penny only seemed to drop with the debutant at this point, as the five-year-old began to dig deep on the run to the penultimate fence. Stamina may well be his forte as he kept on very resolutely late in the day, coming very close to the winner when on his way to securing the runner-up berth. Going forward this nicely bred gelding, who is out of a half-sister to recent graded winner The Gatechecker, is open to plenty of improvement and will be able to put this experience to good use for new connections.