Trainer Danny O’Brien is looking forward to watching exciting three-year-old Young Werther (NZ), a son of Tavistock, have his final hit-out at Moonee Valley on Saturday ahead of the Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington next week.
The current Derby favourite will contest the Gr.2 Drummond Golf Vase (2040m) and has shown a lot of promise in his two starts to date, winning at Geelong on debut last month before finishing runner-up behind Khoekhoe in the Listed Super Impose Stakes (1800m) at Flemington.
He will wear side winkers on Saturday and jump from barrier four with jockey Damien Oliver aboard.
“He’s still only a young horse who has only run twice,” O’Brien said. “It might just help him focus a little bit and travel a bit kinder for Damien in the run.
“He is a really talented horse, he is the current Derby favourite and we are hoping he can justify that on Saturday.”
O’Brien will also line-up fellow New Zealand-bred Miami Bound (NZ) (Reliable Man) in the Gr.2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) and he is hoping for the heavens to open ahead of the race.
“The big positive for her will be if it does get really wet. She loves soft ground,” O’Brien said of the daughter of Reliable Man.
“She is going as well as we can have her. She has had to step into the deep end this spring as a VRC Oaks (Gr.1, 2500m) winner, but the more rain they get the better for her.”
Young Werther was purchased out of Cambridge Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Sale draft by O’Brien for $140,000.
Miami Bound was also a Karaka purchase, with O’Brien going to $120,000 to secure the daughter of VRC Oaks winner Arapaho Miss out of Westbury Stud’s 2018 Book 1 draft.
