Morphettville-based trainer Andrew Gluyas is set to kick off the campaign of his four-time stakes winner, Air Assault, in this Saturday’s Group 3 Behemoth Stakes (1200m).
The four-year-old gelding, sired by Justify, has shown his versatility by winning over distances from 1400 to 1800 metres.
His last outing was on May 4, where he secured a third-place finish in the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m).
Despite his achievements, Gluyas admits that they are still unsure of Air Assault’s ideal racing distance.
“We probably still haven’t worked out what his best trip is,” the trainer told Racing.com.
“Going into the Derby, we thought he probably wasn’t going to be able to run that distance out strongly because that was the case during the spring last year when he ran in the VRC Derby.
“But his effort was very game, and he ran the 2500 metres out strongly, only going down by a small margin after leading the entire way. He looks like he’s returned quite well from our point of view.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s race, Gluyas is optimistic but cautious, noting that the Behemoth Stakes will lay the groundwork for Air Assault’s future targets.
“I’m looking forward to him resuming in the Behemoth Stakes on Saturday, which will hopefully set the foundations into the Leon Macdonald Stakes.
“I think he’ll need the run on Saturday, although his first-up efforts in the past have been pretty good.
“From there, we’ll make some more decisions going forward about where we take him.”
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