Tavago back to best
AUSTRALIAN Derby winner Tavago extended his affinity with Sydney race tracks to Rosehill by clearing out to comfortably score the Group II Sky High Stakes yesterday.
The win was the former Kiwi galloper’s first since his Derby heroics across town at Randwick last April.
Trained by ex-pat Kiwi couple Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young at their Cranbourne-base, Tavago put away the Sky High Stakes field to win by a commanding three and a quarter lengths over heavily backed favourite Antonio Giuseppe.
Rosehill on Coolmore Classic Day suited the four-year-old gelding down to the ground as he took advantage of a gently paced journey over 2000m before surging clear to inflict Antonio Giuseppe’s first loss on his home track.
Tavago’s win sets him up for tilts at the BMW Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill on March 25 and the Sydney Cup (3200m) at Randwick on April 8.
Two down-field finishes at Caulfield and Moonee Valley last September initiated a 22-week spell for Tavago after he was diagnosed with a virus.
‘‘He got beaten 200m in the Underwood (Stakes), it wasn’t running a battling fourth or fifth. He was a crook horse so we took him out and started again,’’ Busuttin said.
He was fifth first-up in the Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) on February 25 and this preparation continues to go to plan.
‘‘He’s a genuine staying horse. He’s a 2400m horse. He enjoys a cut out of the ground and that’s what he got,’’ Busuttin said. Jockey Blake Shinn agreed. ‘‘The race was set up for him. They went a great tempo which afforded him to get into a nice rhythm. The horse is back to his best.
‘‘He’s going to a BMW now I’d say he’s going to be extremely hard to beat, especially stepping up in distance.’’
Tavago’s comprehensive win had an immediate impact on the Sydney Cup market with him shortening from $11 to join the Chris Waller-trained Antonio Darryl Sherer Giuseppe as the joint $6 favourite.
Meanwhile, on a day when she wasn’t even racing, Winx stole the show at Rosehill in a solo track gallop a week out from her next assignment in the George Ryder Stakes.
With Hugh Bowman riding at Flemington yesterday, the responsibility was handed to Kerrin McEvoy to guide the world’s best horse through her work-out over 1000 metres.
And it was a job he took seriously as she worked into a strong gallop, covering her final 600 metres in 34.61s.