Juvenile star on the move
Last season’s Karaka Million winner Xiong Feng is to continue his career overseas.
‘‘He’s going to Singapore and he’ll probably fly out next week,’’ trainer Stephen Mckee said.
Xiong Feng won his first two starts as a two-year-old on rainaffected tracks at Ellerslie and Te Rapa before he led all the way on top of the ground to triumph in the Million for Mckee, who was then in partnership with Eddie Chippendale.
Out of a half-sister to the Group I Cox Plate winner Maldivian, the Iffraaj gelding’s best effort in a handful of appearances this term was a fourth placing in the Group III Bonecrusher Stakes.
‘‘He hasn’t been quite right due to a back problem and he’s been growing as well so I eased up on him after his last run,’’ Mckee said.
‘‘The owners will be looking to run him in the Three-year-old Triple Crown series up there next year.’’
Xiong Feng is raced by the Singapore quartet of Tan Kim Chua Stanley, Tan Koon Eng, James Leong Cen Ming and Lim Keat Joo, who purchased him for $30,000 out of Monovale Farm’s Select Sale draft to Karaka last year.
Mckee is expecting another tidy performance from the promising O’angel in the Global Logistic Maiden at Ellersie on Wednesday. She was most recently runner-up to the subsequent Listed placegetter I Am Gracie at Avondale.
‘‘That was a nice effort and while she hasn’t run for a little while, she should go well,’’ he said. Mckee was also pleased with the recent resuming run of Poetic Affair, who will step out in the Cardinal Logistics 1600.
Meanwhile, star galloper Turn Me Loose could return to action in the Group I Telegraph at Trentham next month. He has had only one race in New Zealand in the past two years, but is expected to have an outing at home before beginning another Australian campaign. ‘‘They might go a bit quick for him, but we want to give him a run here,’’ said Murray Baker, who prepares the horse with Andrew Forsman.
Turn Me Loose has two Group One assignments on his programme in Melbourne next year. They are the Orr Stakes at Caulfield on February 11 with the Futurity Stakes on the same track a fortnight later.
The son of Iffraaj made a late start to the spring and his two starts at the Melbourne spring carnival were over 1100m and 1200m, distances which are short of his best against the premier Australian sprinters.
‘‘There just weren’t the right races for him at that stage of the carnival, but it got him back in the groove and we’re really happy with him,’’ Baker said.
Turn Me Loose will carry 59kg in the Telegraph, but he will be reasonably well suited by the set weights and penalties.
The Telegraph is also a possible starting point for stablemate Saracino’s next campaign and the three-year-old would be an obvious threat if he started.