Karen Fursdon is excited about phase two of a three-step plan for Virtuoso Lad (Exceed and Excel) on Thursday when he lines-up in the Steriline Racing 1200 on the Riccarton polytrack.
She couldn’t have been more pleased with Virtuoso Lad’s South Island debut run when he came from near last to score handsomely by 3-1/2 lengths under apprentice Sanu Toolooa on opening day a fortnight ago.
“It was really great because it confirmed our thoughts that he’d just love a synthetic track – and he did,” Fursdon said.
“He’d had a trial at Cambridge over 1300m and he loved it that day and won his heat pretty easily, so we’d done our homework.
“Sanu did exactly what he was told: not to chase him out of the gates, give him clear air and let him run home. He was pretty impressive.”
It was Virtuoso Lad’s fifth win from 52 starts and has him on track for his campaign target at Riccarton on June 3.
Connections had debated the merits of staying in the north for polytrack racing at Cambridge or heading south but Fursdon said heading south made much more sense.
“The first Cambridge meeting wasn’t till this week and if he won there, there was nothing else for him so the decision was made probably four weeks ago to go down to Riccarton,” she said.
“The drawcard was the high stakes race on the third of June. It was a no-brainer. The owners told us it was a great idea and they really enjoyed the win the other day. Two of them are first time owners and they just loved it.”
Virtuoso Lad has been stabled with Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston since heading south and while Fursdon will be trackside for Thursday’s meeting, she has relied on Carston to provide her with updates on his condition.
“Andrew said he’s just a box of birds. He can’t fault him. He said he’s a very happy horse,” Fursdon said.
“He’s had a big season but he’s handling it really well. At this stage he’ll stay in work next season. He’ll be a nine-year-old but he’s got young legs because he only started racing when he was four. It will depend on how he goes in these next two starts on what he does next.”
Virtuoso Lad has drawn barrier three for Thursday’s race in which he will again be ridden by Toolooa.
“We’d expect Ihu to get out and go forward and if our bloke got out of the gates all right, he could possibly sit on his tail,” Fursdon said.
“But he can sometimes just stroll out of the gates and wait for the other ones to get going first – and if that happens, hopefully he can just find a way through late. We’re hoping he can run well again.”
