Ayrton starts drive to Stradbroke with idle around Echuca
CONNECTIONS of Queensland-bound three-year-olds might want to look at Victorian galloper Ayrton’s trial at Echuca on Tuesday.
The unbeaten three-year-old looked awesome as he covered ground before cruising to win his 800m heat with jockey Michael Walker in the saddle.
“Michael just kept him out wide and let him use that big action of his and was idling late while still careering away,” Michael Kent Jr, who trains Ayrton in partnership with Mick Price, said. “It was the perfect trial.”
Ayrton emerged as an exciting performer during the summer, strolling to easy wins at Bendigo and Caulfield either side of Christmas before his trainers decided to spell the gelding to give him time to further develop.
Kent Jr said the break wonders for Ayrton.
“Mick (Price) was adamant that he didn’t want to get sucked into any Guineas preparation in the autumn,” Kent Jr said.
“He just wanted to give him a spell and let him get over that last run, which was quite stressdid ful for him. He only arrived with us from New Zealand at the start of that prep and did it all off a light campaign.
“Six weeks on green grass has just been the making of him. He’s grown to double the horse he was.
“It’s an old cliché that he’s bigger and stronger but he’s just grown into a beast.”
Ayrton’s two runs certainly caught the eye of bookmakers, who have installed the inexperienced son of Iffraaj as second favourite for the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm in June. But Kent noted Ayrton still has some work ahead of him to make the Stradbroke field.
Ayrton’s two wins have left him with a rating of 71, well short of the level required to get a start in the $1.5 million event.