Byerley Park trainers Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley produced their promising contingent of juveniles to an impressive quinella in the Ellerslie Events 2YO 1100 at Pukekohe on Saturday.
In a compact field of six, the Wallace/Cooksley stable presented half of the two-year-old field and managed to fill the first two placings with So Naïve (NZ) (U S Navy Flag) and Toruk Makto (NZ) (Eminent) respectively.
A son of U S Navy Flag, So Naïve jumped from the inside draw and was hustled to hold the pacemaking position under apprentice Ace Lawson-Carroll, while stablemate Toruk Makto began alongside race-favourite Take The Crown, who briefly bucked and became detached from the remainder of the field early.
The long-striding So Naïve travelled boldly in front throughout and despite racing greenly in the home straight, the colt showed a strong turn-of-foot to score by a length-and-a-quarter from a fast-closing Toruk Makto and Joe Doyle.
“He was a wee bit slower out than I thought he would be, but we got there easy enough and got some nice sectionals out in front,” Lawson-Carroll said.
“He was very strong, very forward and will be a nice horse to watch in the future.”
So Naïve was a $37,500 purchase for Wallace Thoroughbreds out of Kilgravin Lodge’s Book 2 draft at the 2023 Karaka Yearling Sales, while Eminent colt Toruk Makto was secured for $28,000 out of Brighthill Farm.
