Dual Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) placegetter Sound will be looking for back-to-back wins in the Gr.2 Zipping Classic when he contests the 2400m Caulfield feature on Saturday.
The Michael Moroney-trained entire heads into the weekend in good form, having placed in the Gr.2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) last month before finishing runner-up in the Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington.
“He’s going well, I can’t fault his runs this campaign, he’s probably going better than last year,” Moroney told Racing.com.
“He was a pretty hard-going horse when we first got him, I’d say it took 12 to 18 months for him to acclimatise to our style of racing as he was just over-racing.
“I remember I put Jordan (Childs, jockey) on him in the 2018 Caulfield Cup and he said ‘I just couldn’t stop him’, he had the head in the air and kept going. It was exactly the same in the Melbourne Cup.
“It took us a while to come off the bit and relax, we put a norton bit and quite strong gear on him to stop him.”
Sound, a winner of eight of 44 starts and A$1.3 million in prizemoney, will be ridden by Jamie Mott in the Zipping Classic.
The long-range target for Sound is the Gr.2 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup (3200m) after which he will retire to stud in New Zealand.
