Eye-catching galloper Mad Max delivered on the promise he showed early in his career with a rewarding maiden victory for Andrew Forsman at Otaki on Monday.
The son of Savabeel was an impressive juvenile triallist and debuted in Australia before returning to his homeland in late 2023 where he finished out of the placings twice as a well-backed commodity.
Forsman opted to give Mad Max a lengthy spell before returning to the races in November, where he boomed home on two occasions to narrowly go down to Mi Bella and Power Of Three.
His inexperience was evident on Boxing Day at Ellerslie when over-racing last start, but from the jump in Monday’s McMillan Equine Feeds Maiden (1200m), he settled beautifully for in-form apprentice jockey Lily Sutherland. Front-runner Aveta put a space on the field turning for home, but Mad Max was winding up and found a good kick in the straight, keeping up a strong gallop to hold off Just A Drop by three-quarters of a length.
Forsman was pleased with the result, indicating plenty of patience had been exercised since purchasing the gelding back at the 2022 Ready To Run Sales.
“It was nice to see him kind of put it together today, he’s still quite raw and has a far bit to figure out yet, but I think keeping him to shorter distances with tempo on in the race should help him,” he said.
“He’s certainly been a test of patience, but the owners have been great, and to be fair, he had strengthened and matured a lot this preparation.
“I think the time we gave him has certainly helped, now he just needs a bit of confidence in his racing and he’s slowly getting there.”
Bred by Waikato Stud, Mad Max is raced by an ownership group that includes the Zame Partnership, who will have their brightest talent Aegon lining up in Saturday’s Gr.1 Harcourts Thorndon Mile (1600m) at Trentham.
Aegon has earned more than $2 million in stakes in a jet-setting career, with his Group One success coming in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) of 2020. After his form tailed off recently in Australia, Forsman opted to bring the gelding home, resulting in a narrow second placing to Meaningful Star in the Gr.3 Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m) in November.
“We’ve just kept him ticking over, he had a quiet trial the other day at Tauranga to keep him up to the mark, once he’s up and race-fit you don’t need to do too much with him,” Forsman said.
“He seems to be coming along really well.”
Aegon is among the favoured runners for Saturday’s contest, currently sitting a $6 third favourite behind Marotiri Molly ($4.50) and Sharp ‘N’ Smart ($5).
His younger stablemate Kitty Flash will take on the three-year-old feature, the Gr.2 Top Kat Roofing Levin Classic (1400m), earlier on the Trentham card.
The lightly-raced filly has made a good impression in her five-start career, winning two on the bounce before placing behind Alabama Lass in the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m). Kitty Flash then journeyed south to Riccarton for the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) where a soft surface wasn’t to her liking, finishing seventh.
The Tauranga trial, which also featured Aegon, was her first public appearance since the Guineas, and Forsman was more than satisfied with what she produced.
“She went really well in her trial, she was a bit fresh going into it, which is why we opted to go there,” he said.
“She may be a touch vulnerable fitness wise going into this, but we know on class and in a fresh state, she should run really well.
“We’ll see what happens on Saturday, but my gut feeling says that she may be best kept to 1400m, perhaps a mile. She’s quite sharp and has natural speed, I don’t know whether she’s really going to get further than that, but she’ll also tell us that off the back of her next couple of runs.”
In a TAB Futures market dominated by glamour colt Savaglee at $1.80, Kitty Flash is the clear second-elect at $4.50.
