Truth Or Dare’s performance in the Listed Super Impose Stakes (1800m) at Flemington on Saturday is set to give Te Akau Racing an indication of whether they have a Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) contender on their hands.
The Vanbrugh gelding was a $120,000 purchase by David Ellis from the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale. His only two-year-old start produced a fourth placing in a 1200m race at Otaki in April, and he kicked off his three-year-old season with an eye-catching third behind Suit Yourself over 1200m at Te Rapa in August.
The Te Akau team saw enough in those performances to send Truth Or Dare across the Tasman to their Cranbourne stable, and that Australian mission got off to a perfect start when the chestnut won impressively over 1600m on September 19.
“There really was a lot of merit in that performance at Cranbourne,” trainer Mark Walker said. “He’d travelled across to Australia and was jumping straight from 1200 to the mile, but he handled everything we threw at him and won very well.
“With the big stride that he’s got, he gives us the impression that he’ll cope with a bit more distance as well. Hopefully he can prove that with another strong performance this weekend.
“He worked very well on Tuesday. Michael Dee rode him, and he doesn’t normally say a lot, so you take notice when he comments that a horse is going particularly well.
“Our plan is to work towards a race like the Derby, and this race on Saturday should give us an idea whether we should continue along that path.”
Truth Or Dare is currently rated a $13 chance with horse racing bookmakers for the Victoria Derby, which will be run at Flemington on November 2.
Truth Or Dare will be the only runner at Flemington on Saturday for Walker, with stablemate Quintessa having been scratched from the Group 2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes (1400m).
“She just had a bit of a sore foot, it’s nothing major,” Walker said. “We’ll regroup and look to run her in the Tristarc Stakes (Group 2, 1400m) at Caulfield on the 19th.”
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