Punters feel the heat from Tuscan Fire as Ballarat stayer kick starts spring campaign Jockey Glen Boss wins the Byron Moore Handicap aboard Tuscan Fire at Flemington. BALLARAT stayer Tuscan Fire shocked punters and paid for his ticket into the big spring events with a shock first-up win in the L Viney & C McKnigh (1400m). Starting at the odds of $101 he swooped home to defeat the $2.30 favourite Henwood and bowl most quaddie punters out in the first leg. That's a real bonus. He's come back well although he's a bit fluffy and woolly," his Ballarat-based trainer Dan O'Sullivan said. That's just terrific. He hasn't started since he failed in the Adelaide Cup so it's good to see him back. Last preparation Tuscan Fire won the Mornington Cup which guarantees him a start in the Caulfield Cup, but O'Sullivan said the nomination fees were expensive. "That's a big helping hand," he said. We now have the money to pay for nominations into every big race. It was Tuscan Fire's first win from six first-up attempts but O'Sullivan said he normally run well for first-up and he would have been suited by the faster tempo in an open class race. He also said he had been working well. O'Sullivan said he would aim at the Caulfield Cup with the versatile galloper who has also won over the hurdles and would give him his final run before that in the Benalla Cup. "Running him in a handicap with a big weight in the Benalla Cup will give me a better guide as to how he's going than running him in the Turnbull Stakes," O'Sullivan said. O'Sullivan said he was thrilled to have prepared a winner ridden by Patrick Moloney as he spent five years working with his grand-father leading trainer Jim Moloney. Tuscan Fire was the second leg of a winning double for Patrick Moloney and he said that Glen Boss, the regular rider of Henwood had told him how to ride him. It was the in-form Moloney's first double at Flemington and his second city double as earlier he had won on Resistant. It's the thing you dream of as a kid riding a double at Flemington. It's beyond my imagination riding a double as I didn't even think at this stage of my career that I'd be riding in town," Moloney said. Moloney said that Boss told him of Tuscan Fire's idiosyncrasies including that he would jump well which was a big assistance. Moloney said he was surprised by how well Tuscan Fire ran saying he felt like a top class 1400m-1600m horse. Tuscan Fire ($101) defeated Henwood ($2.30 fav) by a short half head with the same distance away third Ladys Angel ($8).