Andrew Forsman will continue a busy week across the North Island at Te Aroha on Wednesday, with his small contingent including strong recent trial winner Mad Max (NZ) (Savabeel).
The son of Savabeel was impressive at the trials early in his career and had a pair of starts in Australia and back home in January, before Forsman allowed him plenty of time to mature over the autumn and winter period.
Raceday rider George Rooke guided Mad Max at Waipa where he closed off nicely to win his 850m heat, a performance Forsman hopes he can replicate in the John Revell Memorial 1150.
“He’s coming up really well, he’s certainly a lot stronger so hopefully that was attributing to some lacklustre raceday performances last time around,” he said.
“He just needs to show what he does at the trials, at the races.”
The familiar colours of Christopher Grace will be carried by the gelding’s stablemate Hinekaha (NZ) (Savabeel) in Saturday’s Listed Trevor Eagle Memorial (1500m) at Ellerslie, following a performance that impressed her trainer on debut at Pukekohe.
Out of Listed Rangatikei Gold Cup (1600m) winner Hinerangi, Hinekaha showed Forsman plenty prior to her first outing, but he was pleasantly surprised to see her so effective over the 1200m.
“I expected her to run well, but I thought the 1200m may be a bit short because she was drawn wide and might get back,” he said.
“It was very encouraging when you think you have a horse with ability to see them win like that first-up.”
Forsman nominated the filly for the Listed The O’Leary’s Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui on the same day, but said she would almost certainly be heading to the northern meeting.
Joining her at Ellerslie will be Saint Bathans, who holds nominations for the Gr.3 Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m) and Stella Artois 1500 Championship Qualifier (1300m), the former also having the potential of featuring Group One winner Aegon.
“At this stage, we’ll probably keep Saint Bathans to the 1300m,” Forsman said.
“He just needs genuine tempo and a decent barrier draw, so there is a possibility we’ll accept in both races.”
Aegon has raced in elite company in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand throughout his career and the seven-year-old was eye-catching fresh-up in the Gr.2 P.B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) back in August before finishing among the tail-enders in his following starts.
The Sacred Falls gelding returned to the trials at Taupo on Tuesday and pleased Forsman, who indicated he could bypass Saturday’s feature in favour of the Gr.1 TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m) on December 7.
“He never trials that well but it was nice to give him a day out and see how forward he is fitness-wise,” Forsman said.
“I think he’s not far off being ready to go, so I’m just deciding whether we’ll run him this weekend or go to Trentham next Saturday.”
Forsman hopes to see his well-performed mare Moonlight Magic back in Group One contention this campaign, after the Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m) runner-up also performed well in a strong trial at Taupo.
“She’s been back in work for a couple of months and had a trial last week at Waipa,” Forsman said. “She trialled well today (Tuesday) so she shouldn’t be far off racing in the next two or three weeks.
“Our targets this preparation will be the Herbie Dyke (Gr.1, 2000m) and the Bonecrusher (Gr.1, 2000m), the two weight-for-age races are what we’re hoping to head towards.
“Her next couple of runs will dictate where we might get to, but I think the middle-distance will suit this time around.”
