Ugo Foscolo shaping up
The eyes of the racing world will be on champion mare Winx when she returns to racing this weekend.
Winx is scheduled to resume in the Group II Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick following two impressive barrier trials and one Kiwi taking special note of her performance will be Kevin Hickman.
The Christchurch businessman is a major shareholder in Ugo Foscolo and outright owner of Savile Row and the two gallopers are scheduled to clash with the great mare when she defends her Cox Plate (2040m) crown on October 28 at Moonee Valley.
Formerly raced in New Zealand, Ugo Foscolo is flying in early season trials in Sydney for new trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
The Zacinto gelding who was with Stephen Marsh in Cambridge before an ownership shuffle and transfer to Sydney, can deliver on his talent this campaign after flopping in his sole run in the autumn.
A winner of the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas last November, Ugo Foscolo joined Waterhouse and Bott and subsequently ran last in the Canterbury Stakes on a Heavy 10 surface at Randwick.
He won a 1000m barrier trial at Rosehill earlier in the month and scored again on Monday over 950m at Warwick Farm by one and a-quarter lengths with jockey Blake Shinn keeping him under a firm hold. He hit the line strongly to defeat stablemate Nzbred Ecuador and ran the distance in 56.50 seconds and his last 600m in 33.90 seconds on a good track.
The horse has returned in great order and will be aimed initially at the Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on September 30 with a lead-up run beforehand.
Co-trainer Bott declared he could be on a path to the Caulfield Cup after winning Monday’s trial but Hickman’s New Zealand-based racing manager Jonathan Scully said that will keep until the following spring.
‘‘The Caulfield Cup is not on his agenda this year but is certainly a race that could suit as a 5-year-old,’’ he said. ‘‘He won his trial on Monday well without spending a lot of energy.
‘‘After the Epsom we will get him down to Melbourne and get him settled in - he can be a bit quirky - so we need to get him there early and set him for the Cox Plate.
‘‘Everyone worries about Winx but you’ve got to have a go, there would be no disgrace running second to Winx you’ve got to be in to win and the same goes with Savile Row.’’
Savile Row runner-up in three Group I races as a 3-year-old last summer when trained out of Mike Moroney and Pam Gerard’s Matamata stable before a move to Moroney’s Flemington barn, is due to have a jumpout on Friday over 1000m with Damian Lane aboard.
The Makfi entire will then launch his campaign iover 1200m at Moonee Valley on September 9, then step up to Group I in the Sir Rupert Clarke at Caulfield three weeks later before the Toorak (1600m) at Caulfield on October 14 a fortnight before the Cox Plate.