McEvoy’s confident of bold showing from Veight in red-hot McNeil Stakes
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained high-class juvenile Veight (Grunt) makes his much anticipated return to the track in today’s McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield.
While on paper it looks a strong renewal of the Group 3, the colts first-up task has seemingly been made significantly easier with the late scratching of Godolphin’s 2022 Golden Gift (1100m) and Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) winner, Barber.
Despite this being Veight’s opening race of his three-year-old campaign, Calvin McEvoy is expecting a bold showing from last season’s Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m)-winning son of Grunt (O’Reilly), and revealed the team have been happy with his progress since he was last seen finishing fourth in the Inglis Sires’ (Gr 1, 1400m) on April 1.
“He’s fantastic,” Calvin McEvoy told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He is in really good order and has had a good preparation heading into his first-up run.
“We’re a little bit lucky in the fact that he is already a Group 2 winner so that takes the pressure off a little bit in terms of us getting into the races we want to be in.”
A trial at Cranbourne over 800 metres on August 7 saw Veight finish seventh, beaten ten lengths, before producing an improved performance in a jump-out at Bendigo, something McEvoy was expecting.
“Our horses often come on for their first trial and his may have looked a bit plain, but Damien Lane just protected him on that softish ground,” he said.
“They were strung out a little bit in the end and we were pretty happy with that. He improved a lot going into his next jump-out at Bendigo where he had a nice hit-out down the back.”
McEvoy did admit that Veight will not be completely dialled in heading into today’s task, with the luxury of knowing they have already secured a spot in next month’s Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) playing its part.
“There are lots of three-year-olds now that are going to be fairly screwed down for their first-up and second-up runs trying to get into races like the Caulfield Guineas, whereas we already have the luxury of knowing that he will be able to get into that field,” McEvoy said.
“That just means we haven’t had to screw him down for a first-up run over 1200 metres. Not to say he hasn’t done enough work to win, as he has, but he’s not screwed down and will improve a lot.”
Today’s McNeil Stakes looks sure to be a hugely insightful contest for the season ahead, with the likes of Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) scorer Little Brose (Per Incanto), unbeaten filly Legacies (Justify), who capped off her juvenile career with a win in the Anzac Day Stakes (Listed, 1400m), and the hat-trick seeking Coincide (Invader) among the nine rivals Veight is set to face.
“You have a Blue Diamond winner in the field that is having his second-up run and he isn’t favourite, which tells you everything about the quality of this race,” McEvoy said
“We’re really comfortable with the two runs he will have before the Caulfield Guineas and having him third-up [for the Group 1] is going to be spot on.
“I’m not sure how far he will get in time, there is a chance he could go 2000 metres but we’re aiming for him to peak on that big grand final day in the Guineas.”
Other connections hoping for a big run are Lindsay Park trainers Ben, JD and Will Hayes, with Blue Diamond hero Little Brose set to run second-up in today’s event, after having finished fourth in the Vain Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) on his seasonal return at Caulfield a fortnight ago, with the usual winkers set to be reapplied.
“On the day we were slightly disappointed, but it turned out to be a real sit and sprint,” Ben Hayes said.
“It turned out that he ran the fifth fastest 200 metres of the meeting, it was just the three that finished in front of him that ran slightly quicker.
“That day we were a little critical of ourselves as we didn’t leave the winkers on and he was a little bit like a drunken sailor out there, so we’ve got the winkers back on.
“His work into the race has been great and I think you’ll see a big improvement.”
Like the McEvoys, the Lindsay Park team are also preparing the son of Per Incanto (Street Cry) for a start in the Caulfield Guineas, however an impressive win by the colt in today’s 1200-metre sprint could potentially open up a different path.
“If he comes out and wins impressively by a big margin and someone was to offer him a slot in The Everest, we could change our mind,” Hayes added.
“Giga Kick won the Vain Stakes and we’re a Group 1 winner when Giga Kick wasn’t last year. If he wins and someone shows some interest, we could go that way.”