Impeccably bred two-year-colt Remarque stamped himself as a legitimate Golden Slipper contender with an arrogant display to win his debut.
Remarque’s ability had been on display before his debut with two encouraging trial wins and on the back of that punters sent him out as a $1.40 favourite to win the 1100 metres event at Rosehill.
Piloted by Tommy Berry, the Snitzel colt was very green in the straight but proved a class above his opposition and he defeated the Godolphin-trained Zethus ($11) by two lengths with Sing A Love Song ($14) 1 3/4 lengths away third.
After jumping well, the two-year-old found himself a touch wide initially before Berry elected to cruise up outside the early leader Hollywood Gossip, and was able to switch off until the turn.
The blue-blood then showed a strong turn of foot to pull away and win with plenty in hand.
The full-brother to 2018 Golden Slipper winner Estijaab is on the same path as his sister with co-trainer Michael Hawkes explaining it was good to see him get the first goal out of the way.
“Trials are one thing, but you’ve got to come out and do it on race day,” Hawkes said.
“You can take a lot away from that run, he had the bad barrier and had a lot go against him.
“The part I loved the most was when Tommy brought him back and travelled well underneath him. They’re signs of good horses.”
The win bore similarities to how Estijaab kicked off her career as her debut win came on January 20 2018, just four days later in the season and three starts later she won the Golden Slipper Stakes.
Hawkes is not shying away from planning a similar campaign for the colt, and sees a lot of comparisons between the two.
“She had natural gate speed, he has natural gate speed,” Hawkes said.
“He’s heading towards the Slipper we are not going to deny that.
“Two-year-olds don’t usually do that, good two-year-olds do and he’s a good two-year-old.”
Remarque has now firmed from $15 into $11 in Golden Slipper futures markets with the TAB.
