Barcello likely for Derby path
PETER McKay is hoping any feelings of deja vu with Barcelo continues well into the youngster’s three-year-old season.
The Matamata trainer plans to follow a familiar path with the gelding and a programme that will ideally lead to Christchurch for the Group I New Zealand Guineas.
McKay produced Barcelo to win the Tavistock Syndicate Owners’ two-year-old at Ruakaka yesterday, a race he won last year with Amarula who then progressed to claim the Group II Hawke’s Bay Guineas, finished runner-up in the Group II Sarten Memorial and ran seventh in the Riccarton feature.
‘‘He’s out of a Zabeel mare that won three races so that will help him when he gets up to a mile,’’ said McKay, who also trained Barcelo’s sire Alamosa for multiple Group I success.
‘‘I’m not sure if he’s got the smarts of Amarula, but he really does try hard and that will carry him a long way.’’
Barcelo capped off a consistent run of form with his maiden victory at Ruakaka where he travelled well behind the pace for McKay’s son Shaun before rounding off strongly in the run home to win by three quarters of a length.
‘‘We’ll come back here in a month for the three-year-old race in early August and go on from there,’’ McKay said.
Barcelo had had placings behind the talented trio of Honey Rider, Ugo Foscolo and Ichiban from his previous three outings.
Runner-up Barabas also showed he had a bright future with a brave first-up performance TRISH DUNELL from a wide gate to take second from Bruce Arthur with the winner’s stablemate Tyrion giving a good account of himself with his debut fourth. ALLAN Sharrock is counting down to Kawi’s return to racing with the multiple Group I winner expected to resume at Te Rapa next month.
The New Plymouth trainer has recently welcomed the star Savabeel gelding back to his stable following two months of pre-training.
‘‘We’ll probably look at the Foxbridge Plate and the first two at Hastings before we sneak off,’’ Sharrock said.
He was referring to the opening two legs of the Group I series at Hawke’s Bay – the Makfi Challenge Stakes and the Windsor Park Plate – ahead of a Melbourne spring carnival campaign.
In the meantime, Sharrock has good reason to expect further progress from the smart filly Ladies First, who won for the second time in her brief career when successful in yesterday’s threeyear-old race at Awapuni.
The daughter of Dylan Thomas and the Australian Group III winner Just Polite made the perfect debut on the course in May before she headed north.
‘‘We took her to Te Rapa where she was up in class and she sat three wide the trip and had the audacity to run fourth,’’ Sharrock said.
Ladies First had the leader within her sights on the bend yesterday and once rider Lisa Allpress was able to angle her wider on the track in the straight she drew out to beat Mendip by a couple of lengths.