Admiral Newmarket hope

CHAMPION Tasmanian galloper Admiral looks set to make his return to racing in the Newmarket Handicap after a satisfactory trial at Longford yesterday.

Admiral finished second in his trial, but the seven-year-old gelding was not fully extended over the 700m dash. Admiral hasn’t raced since he placed third in the weight-for-age Mowbray Stakes (1600m) in February last year with the enforced lay-off caused by a leg injury that required more than a year in the spelling paddock.

The Barry Campbell- trained gelding was twice Tasmanian horse of the year and among his 16 wins from only 28 starts were multiple Listed events ranging in distance from 1200m to 1600m.

Admiral ran fifth in the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington at three and dominated the wfa races for the next two seasons in Tasmania. But at the end of his five-year-old preparation he suffered splints in his nearside foreleg which required two operations.

Campbell was thrilled with how his former stable star trialled. “I couldn’t be happier with that gallop today,” Camp- bell said. “I asked Brendon [McCoull] to come up and ride him because he has ridden him nearly all of his racing life and he gave the horse a glowing report after the trial.

“He said his action was as good as ever and he felt good underneath him, but he was never fully extended in the trial, which was what we intended. Obviously we won’t know for sure how well Admiral has come back until we get him in a race like the Newmarket because it is a high-pressure race and that will be the big test.”

While most eyes were on Admiral’s trial, there also was a lot of attention given to the first two-year-old trial of the season in which Spreyton trainer Adam Trinder saddled up five of the six runners.

All of Trinder’s youngsters trialled well, but it was the Liandra Gray-trained Maceyanna (Wordsmith-Surf Candy) that stole the show by leading throughout to score by almost two lengths from Tough Boy (Tough Speed-Royal Beluga) and Miss Bossey Belle (Wordsmith-Bavarian Belle).

Maceyanna was clearly the most forward-looking of the six juveniles in the parade ring and with apprentice Breaana Smith aboard she showed her rivals a clean pair of heels from barrier to post.

Trinder was pleased with all of his youngsters but said probably only three — Tough Boy, Miss Bossey Belle and Andaton (Whittington-Anda Cuddle) would get to the early twoyear-old races.