Forgot you (NZ) (Savabeel) has stamped himself as a spring contender with a stylish maiden win at The Valley on Saturday.
Nearing the home turn trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young were querying their decision to bypass a maiden race at Cranbourne on Thursday in favour of Saturday’s PFD Food Services Handicap (1500m), though in the straight Forgot You ($5) put those to bed, powering home under the urgings on Daniel Moor to score a three-quarter length win from the $2.70 favourite Sandy Prince (Pride of Dubai).
Forgot You was one of three runners Busuttin and Young saddled up – Benczkowski (NZ) (Tavistock) (6th) and Shadow Hawk (NZ) (Savabeel) (7th) – and Young said she was surprised to see the trio struggling for pace early in the race.
“But he (Forgot You) had amazing acceleration,” Young said.
Forgot You is nominated for both the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) next month and the Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington on the opening day of Melbourne Cup week.
Young said the team and Moor would sit down and work out the best plan of attack.
“We’ve got him nominated for the Guineas and the Derby so where we go from here, we’ll weigh it up,” Young said.
“He could go to the Derby Trial, or we could bring him back and go for the Guineas Prelude, so we’ll just see what Daniel seems to think, but obviously he got the job done nicely today.
“He’s a really nice horse going forward.”
Moor said Forgot You showed with his victory on Saturday that he is a serious contender for the major spring three-year-old races.
“I thought he’d get up to the real classic trips, the Derby, 1800m and races like that, but there’s a bit of water to go under the bridge,” Moor said.
“I was really impressed today that he switched off.”
A race later Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) brought up his fourth consecutive win when successful in the Drummond Golf Handicap (1600m).
The four-year-old gelding was initially trained in New Zealand by Ralph Manning for whom he ran fifth in his sole New Zealand start before heading to Australia and joining Ben and JD Hayes’ Lindsay Park Racing operation.
He has since had five starts for the Flemington-based stable and made easy work of the step up to Saturday metropolitan racing.
“That was outstanding,” JD Hayes said “I loved the way he relaxed and put them away. He just really conserves his energy this horse, like good horses do, and he knows when it is game time and he produces when he has to.
“We will sit down and work it (where he goes next) out with the team but he is obviously a nice horse going through. We will see how he pulls up, it is his first campaign here in Australia so how long is a piece of string? He will tell us.”
