Talented juveniles set to make three-year-old debut
Autumn stars to step out in the Rosebud as spring aspirations lie ahead
Some of the autumn’s star juveniles will seek to take the next step in their careers on Saturday as they step out for the first time since turning three in the Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) at Rosehill.
Inglis Millennium (RL, 1200m) winner Prime Star (Starspangledbanner), Talindert Stakes victor (Listed, 1100m) Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), progessive metropolitan scorer Anders (Not A Single Doubt), as well as two Group performed colts from the Gerald Ryan stable, have all accepted for the first three-year-old stakes race of the season.
Richard Freedman, who trains Prime Star in partnership with his brother Michael, said the son of Starspangledbanner (Choisir) is not a guaranteed starter in the race as they wait to assess the track conditions.
“It depends on the weather a fair bit because they’re expecting a lot of rain between now and Saturday and we’re not sure what we want to run him given that likelihood,” Richard Freedman told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“It’s a little bit up in the air at the moment depending on what happens in the rest of the week but he’s come back in what appears to be great shape. I think he’s going a lot better than he was when he won the Millennium, which he’ll need to be because everybody else has improved as well, but at this stage we’re pretty happy with him.
“He’s grown a little bit taller, not a lot taller, but he’s about 40 kilos heavier than he was, so he’s thickened out and muscled up. He’s not an overly tall horse but he’s a very strong horse.”
Freedman said the stable hasn’t got a particular grand final race set for Prime Star, but they will let him work his way into the big feature races and choose where to send him based on his form.
Given the current restrictions preventing horses from travelling out of Victoria, it’s also difficult for all trainers to plan spring programs with no set date on when the state borders will reopen.
“We don’t target a particular race with these sorts of horses,” Freedman said. “We’ll put them on a program that will allow them to reach one of those top quality races if their form warrants it.
“We don’t select a Randwick Guineas and say ‘we want to run him in that’, we’ll let him find his way there but we’ll make sure he gets his opportunity to get there if he’s good enough.
“We’re also not sure how far he will run.
“He may be best up to 1200 metres, he may reach 1600 (metres), so we’re not completely sure how far he will run and we’re still finding that out about him. Given that he’s only had four starts in his life, it’s hard to know exactly.
“Certainly interstate travel at the moment to Victoria is problematic because while horses can travel to Victoria, they can’t come back to New South Wales at this stage, so that makes it difficult for us to take horses there.”
Ole Kirk, the nephew of champion mare Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), is coming off the back of a 900-metre trial at Rosehill on Tuesday, where he finished sixth under a hard hold from Tommy Berry after settling at the tail of the field before running on well.
Berry was pleased with the colt’s performance in the trial and said he was looking forward to seeing what kind of heights he can reach this spring.
“He wasn’t there to do a heap,” Berry told Racing NSW. “He’s about the same height but he’s definitely stronger than he was.
“I think he was unlucky not to win a couple more last preparation and I think he can match up against a nice crop of three-year-olds.’’
Anders was an impressive trial winner at Randwick on July 28, leading the seven-runner field under James McDonald and scoring by an official margin of five lengths.
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained son of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), who at the time of writing was the $4.60 second favourite behind Ryan’s Pago Pago Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) runner-up Kumasi (Snitzel), is likely to stick to the sprint trips this spring and assistant trainer Annabel Neasham believes the colt has developed into a very nice three-year-old.
“He’s going very well,” Neasham told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He had a three week break and he’s matured.
“He’s quite forward coming into this and he’s really developed physically from two to three.
“His win at Rosehill was very good. They went quick and he quickened off that hot tempo in a race that was set up for the back markers, which made the win more impressive.
“Certainly the way that tracks are playing in Sydney at the moment it may well be in our favour to have a horse on speed and he’s drawn beautifully in three. The main thing with him is just to have him where he’s comfortable, he’s got to relax.
“I think he’s relaxed in his last two races which has enabled him to finish off.”
Eduardo ready for Missile test
It has been almost two years since Eduardo (Host) burst onto the scene as one of the most exciting up and coming horses among the sprinting ranks, but a few issues caused the now seven-year-old to spend some time on the sidelines and we are yet to see him reach his full potential.
However, it took just one run for new trainer Joe Pride, who is a proven handler of mature aged sprinters with the likes of Terravista (Captain Rio) and Ball Of Muscle (Dubawi), to get Eduardo back into the winner’s stall and this weekend he will look to add the Missile Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) to his CV.
Formerly trained by Sarah Zschoke at Cranbourne, the son of Host (Hussonet) was narrowly beaten by subsequent Group 1 winner I Am Excited (Snitzel) in the Gilgai Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at just his fourth ever race start back in October 2018.
He then comfortably took out the Caulfield Sprint (Gr 2, 1000m) at his next start before heading for a break and returning to finish third behind Booker (Written Tycoon) and Encryption (Lonhro) in the 2019 Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m).
Following that career-best performance, Eduardo placed in the Bel Esprit Stakes (Listed, 1100m) and the McEwen Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m) but has failed to fire since.
Since moving to Pride’s stable at Warwick Farm, the gelding appears to be as close to being back to his best as we have seen him in the last 12 months and the trainer is confident he can put up a bold showing at Rosehill this weekend.
“Obviously he’s new to my stable but he’s adapted well to the change of environment and the change in training regime and he’s in really good order,” Pride told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We are meeting some very good horses, in particular Melody Belle, she’s a multiple Group 1 winner, but we’re up against her at the right time. She’s first-up at a sprint trip and we’ve got the advantage of having had that first-up run already.
“He lines up alright against these horses and he’s going to have to improve a bit out of his first up run but I feel like there was improvement in him and he’s made that.”
Pride said there are no specific target races in place for Eduardo and that the stable will wait and see how he measures up on Saturday before laying out a plan for the rest of the spring.
“We will feel our way through it,” Pride said. “If he went really well on Saturday then there would be some genuine interest in this horse in some of the bigger sprints and in which case we might just give him a little bit freshen up.
“It’s all really dependent on what we see from him on Saturday.”