Promising staying three-year-old Phats (NZ) (Embellish) will tick an exciting box for Chrissy Bambry on Saturday at Flemington as her first runner in Australia.
A homebred son of Embellish, Phats secured his maiden victory comfortably at Waverley in April and subsequent placings at Rating 75 level warranted a start in the Kiwifruit Cup (2100m), where he finished a creditable fourth behind Khan Hunter (NZ) (Mongolian Khan).
Phats will contest the Mahogany Challenge Final (2500m) at the iconic venue, a race also featuring fellow Kiwi-bred and trained galloper Eliud (NZ) (Almanzor).
“Everything we’ve thrown at him he has coped with really well, he’s been racing above his grade very consistently,” Bambry said.
“This race was always at the back of our minds, so we threw him in the deep end in the Kiwifruit Cup and he was running through the line well, so we thought it was definitely worth a crack bringing him over.”
Bambry had an insight to the Victorian racing scene when preparing Lord Bouzeron (NZ) (Burgundy) to win their Australian debut in 2020 under brother-in-law Francis Finnegan, and is looking forward to having Phats under her name on Saturday.
“He’s my first runner in Australia which is pretty exciting, but I’m pretty nervous too,” she said.
“I prepared Lord Bouzeron for a similar race four years ago while my sister and her husband (Finnegan) were over in Cranbourne, so we’ve based his preparation pretty much on that.
“We’ve just kept him in his little routine, he had a nice gallop on Monday on the course proper at Foxton and is flying over today. You never know how they will travel but he’s pretty chilled out, so I think he’s got everything ahead of him.
“We’ll see how he goes on Saturday, he may stay over here for a couple of other races as well.”
Closer to her Foxton base, Bambry will have one representative at the Awapuni Synthetic meeting on Friday in Saint Leonard (NZ) (Dial A Prayer), who will be chasing back-to-back wins in the Carters Ashhurst-Pohangina Cup (2140m).
A son of Dial A Prayer, Saint Leonard entered the winner’s circle at the course at his second start for Bambry a fortnight ago, and will have Kavish Chowdhoory back in the saddle.
“I’ve only had him this prep and he’s still very green and doesn’t know a lot,” Bambry said.
“He can over race a little bit, so I asked Kavish not to let him pull his head off last time and he did the right thing when the brakes went on, letting the horse go around them. He’s a very fit horse and he just outstayed them.
“I’ll leave the ride up to Kavish this time based on how the race pans out, he’s a horse that doesn’t really like being told what to do and Kavish knows him, so it’ll be in his hands.”
