A pair of exciting young prospects from Andrew Forsman’s stable are in the running to strut their stuff in Melbourne this spring.
Stakes performers Red Sea and Yaldi were among a number of the Cambridge trainer’s team in action at Tuesday’s trial meeting on their home synthetic course.
The two-year-olds stepped out in a juvenile heat over 950m and they dominated the finish, with Red Sea getting in the bob by a slender margin under rider Warren Kennedy.
“We would like to see how Red Sea trials on a rain-affected track at Te Rapa in a couple of weeks, so that will be the next step for him,” Forsman said.
“How he handles that, and Warren’s feedback, will determine whether we give him a run here or go straight to Melbourne.
“I know the connections would like to consider a Melbourne spring campaign with him.”
Raced by breeders Cambridge Stud, the son of Pierro has won once from five appearances and was last seen when runner-up in the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
“He looks to be coming up really well and the first target (in Melbourne) could be the Danehill Stakes (Group 2, 1200m),” Forsman said.
Ardrossan’s lightly son Yaldi has already made his presence felt across the Tasman with a third placing in the Listed Anzac Day Stakes (1400m) at Flemington in April, following his winning debut at Pukekohe Park.
“Again, we’re going to have to see how he trials at Te Rapa and then make a call whether he’s best placed here in the spring if he handles rain-affected ground,” Forsman said.
“There are also a number of good options for him in Melbourne, so post his next trial we will sit down and make a plan.”
Stable stalwart Aegon, who is closing in on $2 million in career earnings, was spelled after he ran second in the Group 1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) and his placing in an open 950m trial showed he was making good progress.
“He went very well and is another who will trial again at Te Rapa and we just have to wait and see what the weather will do,” Forsman said.
“We would love to give him a run or two here, he’ll handle wet ground but we don’t want to run him on a bottomless track and it will be down to weather and track conditions what we then do with him.
“It is exciting to see some of the better horses out and doing a bit and gives you a feeling that some good races aren’t too far away.
“It’s nice to have options for all of them and knowing that if the tracks are going to be wet here for the next two or three months then we have the back-up option of getting them to Melbourne.”
Five-time winner St Bathans was successful in his open 950m heat in the Maurice five-year-old’s first outing since he ran third in the Group 3 Easter Handicap (1600m).
“He was super and he’s still relatively well rated so we’ll probably just chip away with him here in his grade,” Forsman said.
“He handles the rain-affected surfaces well and we’ll look at handicap miles, perhaps the Matamata Cup (Listed, 1600m) or the Merial Metric Mile at Awapuni.”
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