A likely trip across the Tasman is looming for promising stayer Trust In You (NZ) (Sweynesse).
The five-year-old son of Sweynesse put himself on the map over the Christmas Carnival when winning the Stayers Championship Final (2400m) at Pukekohe on Boxing Day before returning to the South Auckland track on New Year’s Day where he was victorious in the Gr.3 Queen Elzabeth II Cup (2400m).
He was then sixth when fresh-up in the Gr.2 Avondale Cup (2400m) at Ellerslie in February, and readied for the Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m) with a runner-up performance in the Nathans Memorial (2200m) a week prior.
Trainers Grant Cooksley and Bruce Wallace were pleased with his sixth placing in the Auckland Cup and are looking at heading to Sydney with their charge with an eye towards next month’s Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) at Randwick.
“He has come through the Auckland Cup well,” Cooksley said. “It was a good run, he just got pushed back a bit at the 800m and made up good ground and went a very good race.
“He had a few days out after the Cup and has done a bit of work in the last week and he is doing well. We will just see how he is doing next week before we decide on Australia.
“If he goes over to Australia, it will be for the Sydney Cup and he may run a week prior in the Chairman’s (Gr.2, 2600m).
“It will be a nice race for him, Randwick is a fair bit different than what Ellerslie is. At Ellerslie, you have to be on the pace at the moment, but at Randwick you can come from anywhere.”
A trip to Australia could also be on the cards for Group Three winner Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin), with Cooksley eyeing the Queensland Winter Carnival with the son of Satono Aladdin.
“Sacred Satono may have a run on the 20th next month at Ellerslie and may then head to Brisbane for the Stradbroke (Gr.1, 1400m), but we will just see how he comes up,” Cooksley said.
Meanwhile, the stable’s evergreen galloper Gino Severini (Fastnet Rock) has been retired following his last placed run in the $350,000 Rangitoto Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie earlier this month.
The globetrotting gelding commenced his career in his native Ireland where he won the Madrid Handicap (1400m). He then had three unplaced runs in Hong Kong before joining Bruce Wallace’s Byerley Park barn where he has prepared the now 10-year-old initially in partnership with Allan Peard prior to Cooksley joining the business.
In all, the son of Fastnet Rock won eight and placed in 20 of his 68 career starts and earned more than $500,000 in prizemoney. His highlights include victories in the Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes (1600m), Gr.2 Japan Trophy (1600m), and Gr.3 Eagle Technology Stakes (1600m), while he also placed in the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m), Gr.3 Balmerino Stakes (2050m), Gr.3 J Swap Sprint (1400m), and was twice placed in the Japan Trophy.
“He did well and gave his best every time he went out there. He was a good horse,” Cooksley said. “He won a couple of weight-for-age races at Tauranga and he was always thereabouts in Group One races.”
