Ugo Foscolo shows speed at Hastings
There’s more in store for impressive Hastings 3-year-old winner Ugo Foscolo.
The Stephen Marsh-trained Zacinto gelding went into Saturday’s El Roca 3-year-old sprint fresh-up but was fit enough to out-run his rivals.
Jockey Michael Coleman made use of the inside gate to jump, lead with head on chest and dominate.
‘‘I wanted to ride him positive form the one gate,’’ Coleman said.
‘‘He came off the bridle quite nicely and found a nice kick when I asked.
‘‘He’s still got plenty of improvement and it all looks good from here on in.’’
Big targets await the $1.90 favourite with the Group II Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) on October 1 and Group I 2000 Guineas (1600m) on November 5 high on the list.
‘‘He’s going to have to keep improving,’’ said Bruce Perry racing manager for part-owner Lib Petagna.
‘‘But the others are going to do the same.’’
Petagna shares Ugo Foscolo’s ownership with five others including high profile owners Kevin Hickman and Tony Muollo, the group purchasing the horse for $50,000 at Karaka.
However, the winner wasn’t in Petagna’s familiar colours, instead wearing the colours of the Cancer Society on Daffodil Raceday thereby earning a $1,000 donation from TAB bookies for cancer research.
The others Perry alluded to who finished behind Ugo Foscolo, included Hall Of Fame, Mongolian Falcon and Kingsman respectively, who ran well albeit chasing Ugo Foscolo in vain on the Slow 7 surface.
Into the strong home straight wind, the winner clocked a moderate 1:13.59 for the 1200m, inferior to the 1:12.34 Miss Appleton ran in the previous race, the Rating 85 sprint.
Humidor added another $1,000 to Cancer Society coffers with his easy Rating 75 win over 1600m and pushed the gelding to prominence for the Livamol Classic.
Mark Du Plessis punched the 4-year-old son of Teofilo clear in the home straight strengthening convictions of trainers Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard that he deserves a shot at the race.
The Group I Livamol is on October 1, the third day of the Hawke’s Bay carnival.