Marsh hopeful that stakes-performing trio can stamp home Guineas claims
Glamour Tycoon, Burn To Shine and Codigo all line up for the Cambridge-based trainer on a bumper card at Hastings this weekend
Stephen Marsh is looking forward to an important day at Hastings tomorrow as he saddles up a trio of Guineas hopefuls across two of the three feature races on the card, the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) and Sir Colin Meads Trophy (Listed, 1200m).
Glamour Tycoon (Written Tycoon) will bid to showcase her New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) credentials when she takes on 12 rivals in the Gold Trail Stakes.
In a two-start juvenile campaign that produced plenty of promise, Glamour Tycoon began with a debut second over 1100 metres at Te Rapa before then filling the same placing in the Waikato Equine Vet Centre 2YO (Listed, 1200m) at the same track on her next start.
Returning as a three-year-old back at Te Rapa on August 26, she made it a hat-trick of runner-up finishes when coming home a length behind impressive debut winner Lupo Solitario (Satono Aladdin) in a 1200-metre maiden contest.
“I think that fresh up run has brought her on, she’s really good,” Marsh told ANZ Bloodstock News. “She’s done super well since and has drawn beautifully [barrier three] which is terrific.
“She’s still a maiden and it is a hot field, but she’s certainly better than a maiden and I really like the way she has come up since that first-up effort.”
Reflecting on that last-start defeat, where she was sent off the $2.10 favourite under jockey Michael McNab, Marsh felt the filly had just hit the front too soon, thoughts that were echoed by McNab.
“Michael McNab rode her that day and he felt she almost just got to the front too soon and gawked around a little bit,” Marsh said.
“I think it was just a maiden where plenty were ready to go and I’d say the winner is very useful, so in three or four months’ time we could be looking back and saying it was a really good field.
“From the draw this weekend, we’ll put her just behind the speed, or even trail, but we will certainly be a lot more patient with her this time.”
Marsh went to NZ$220,000 to secure Glamour Tycoon at Book 1 of last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale out of Highline Thoroughbreds and initially he thought she may have been a filly for the Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m).
“We just really liked her and she looked like a racey type of filly,” Marsh said. “We thought at that stage she could have potentially been a Karaka Million filly but she took a little bit longer than we thought.
“However, we still got a couple of runs into her as a juvenile and to be already stakes-placed, so she’s done a really good job so far.”
A good run in this weekend’s Group 3 feature is likely to see the filly, who is the only foal to race out of the Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) mare Glamour Gal, have a crack at the elite-level, with the 1,000 Guineas at Riccarton on November 18 the filly’s intended target.
“Absolutely, that is the direction [1,000 Guineas] we would like to take,” Marsh revealed. “At the next couple of runs she is going to tell us if that is the direction we head in, or if it is another path we take, but we’d certainly love to have a crack at a Group 1 with her.”
The Cambridge-based trainer also has his sights set on the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), a race he won in 2016 with Ugo Foscolo (Zacinto), with fellow stakes performers Burn To Shine (So You Think) and Codigo (Ardrossan).
Having both made winning debuts as juveniles, Codigo subsequently went on to land the Wellesley Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Trentham in January, while Burn To Shine returned to action this season with a useful winning effort at Te Rapa last month, beating his elders in a 1200-metre Benchmark 65 event.
“He’s going terrific,” Marsh said of the latter. “He beat the older horses last time and yet he’s still green and a bit new. He has barrier one and I think, with a good position, he’ll go very well once again.”
Following on from his debut win over 970 metres on the Cambridge synthetic track, Burn To Shine, a gelded son of Coolmore stallion So You Think (High Chaparral), then ran third, beaten five and three-quarter lengths, behind the Te Akau Racing colt Tokyo Tycoon (Satono Aladdin), who reopposes this weekend, and Marsh is confident that the distance between the pair can be closer this time around.
“I think Burn To Shine has really developed from two to three,” the trainer said. “He won a race over 970 metres on the tapeta track, something he shouldn’t really have been able to do with his breeding and size, so he’s furnished.
“I wouldn’t want any other three-year-old going into this race. I think he has a very bright future.”
After having secured his win in the Wellesley Stakes, Codigo then made the journey across the Tasman to compete in a competitive 1200-metre event down the straight track at Flemington.
Ridden by Blake Shinn on that occasion, the gelding finished third behind winner Steparty (Artie Schiller) and runner-up Dolphin Skin (Telperion), with the latter going on to win the Taj Rossi Series Final (Listed, 1600m) on his next start, while the former has also won again, stretching his unbeaten tally to three.
“Codigo hasn’t raced for a while, but he’s unbeaten in New Zealand and then ran in a hot two-year-old race in Australia where he had to carry a big weight and finished third,” Marsh said.
“His trial was good the other day and he’s forward enough to go well, but he’ll certainly improve for the outing.”
Michael McNab, who has ridden Codigo for both his wins in New Zealand last season, has chosen to remain with the son of Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) for this weekend’s Listed event.
“I think he sort of made his choice because he’s ridden Codigo for three starts (one of those a trial) and three wins, including the stakes success, so that was probably the factor in deciding who to ride,” Marsh said.
Looking ahead to the spring, both Burn To Shine and Codigo are set to be aimed at the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas at Riccarton on November 11, and Marsh feels that the step up to 1600 metres would bring about improvement in both.
“He’s (Codigo) another on target for the 2,000 Guineas and you’d think when both these horses get up the the mile trip, they’ll improve for it,” Marsh said.
Meanwhile, Marsh is confident that four-year-old entire Financier (Tavistock) can get back to winning ways in the Rating 65 contest over 1300 metres on the Hastings card. The son of Tavistock (Montjeu) finished runner-up, beaten one and a half lengths, behind his stablemate Burn To Shine on his seasonal reappearance at Te Rapa last month.
“He’s another going really well,” Marsh said of the son of Tavistock (Montjeu).
“He has a bit of a sticky gate (barrier ten) but the blinkers go on and they seemed to have sharpened him up a lot.
“I think he’s one for stakes company and one that can go through the grades. If he can get any luck from his draw, I think he’ll be very hard to beat.”
Marsh also has last season’s Desert Gold Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) winner Mazzolino (Savabeel) making her seasonal return in the Vet Services Equine Hawke’s Bay Premier (1200m). She finished her three-year-old career with runs in the Levin Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) and NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on her last two outings, registering a fourth-place finish in the former.
“She’s going to improve a lot for the run. She has 58.5 kilos here and it’s more a case of getting her out and fit and then moving her out over further trips” Marsh said.
The trainer will also send out El Vencedor (Shocking) in an Open Handicap at Ruakaka over 1400 metres, and he feels that the five-year-old gelding can get back to the form of his stylish victory in a 1400-metre handicap at Hastings in April, having ran down the field in an ultra-competitive Foxbridge Plate (Gr 2, 1200m) first-up.
“I think he can [get back to that form] and he has come on really well from that first-up run in the Foxbridge. His work has been great and he gets in nicely here back up to 1400 metres,” Marsh said.
“He’s got to jump from a wide gate [barrier ten], but he should be able to just roll across and get a lead. He’ll be a big improver I think.”