South Auckland trainer Steven Cole elected to bypass last Saturday’s Gr.2 Dundeel At Arrowfield Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) with Magneto (NZ) (Showcasing) in favour of a softer target closer to home this week.
The son of Showcasing finished third in the Listed El Roca – Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) at Hastings last start and Cole thought it would be too much of an ask for Magneto to make the long trip to Hawke’s Bay once again a fortnight later.
“He has bounced through his last run and at this stage he is going to run at Matamata this weekend in a three-year-old 1400m,” Cole said.
“Being in Auckland we have got to go the day before and doing that twice in a short space of time is a big ask early in his prep.
“The logistics of being in Auckland at the moment is pretty hard, admittedly we have been very lucky with Caley Myers looking after our horses. It is still a big effort to get them down there and back.”
Cole was impressed with Magneto’s second-up effort in the El Roca and is looking forward to stepping him up over more ground as they look to the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November.
“I thought it was a super run,” Cole said. “His first run at Te Rapa I thought he was going to be pretty vulnerable considering he had one very quiet trial and an exhibition gallop at Ruakaka, that was five or six weeks before his first race.
“He improved naturally with it and Michael (McNab, jockey) really liked the horse and thought the step up to 1400m would really suit him.
“The 2000 Guineas is still the main aim at the moment. It’s just a matter of how we are going to get down there and whether Auckland people will be able to get down there at all. We will get to that hurdle once we get past Matamata.”
