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The first 2YO official trials were held in Sydney on Monday morning.
The Breeders Plate and Gimcrack Stakes picture became a little clearer at Randwick on Monday when Sydney's first set of official two-year-olds trials were held.
The 10 trials, all conducted over 850m on a Soft 6 track, contained a number of runners by stallions, including Justify and Trapeze Artist, who haven't yet had runners to the track, and below is a snapshot of each trial.
TRIAL 1: Don Corelone (Extreme Choice) turned in a professional display to hold off Physical Graffiti (Russian Revolution) and score by just under a length in a time of 51.19secs. The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt was bought by the China Horse Club and Newgate out of the Gilgai Farm draft at last year's Magic Millions National Weanling Sale for $650,000.
"Peter has always liked this horse, he was a weanling we purchased with our partnership off Rick Jamieson's Gilgai Farm for a whopping $650,000 last year, but he's a horse that's always shown good ability and nice to see him execute it today," Newgate's Henry Field said.
TRIAL 2: The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Perfect Proposal (Russian Revolution) was pushed early to grab the lead and was then kept up to the mark by Tim Clark in the straight and went to the line with a bit in hand to defeat Satin And Silk (I Am Invincible) by 2-1/4 lengths in 51.06secs, which was the fastest time of the day. Perfect Proposal is out of a sister to former champion filly Alinghi and cost $420,000 at this year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
"We were hoping to see that because she's the type of filly at home that's just done everything right and improved every step of the way and improved quite quickly in fairness. I thought she'd trial up sharply and we're just very satisfied to see her do it in the manner that she did," Bott said.
TRIAL 3: James Harron pair Mach Ten (Exceed And Excel) and Godfather (I Am Invincible) dominated with the former scoring by a neck in 51.97secs. The Michael Freedman-trained Mach Ten, a $1.2m Magic Millions yearling, led and looked set to be reeled in by the Snowden-prepared Godfather, a $1.1m buy at the same sale, in the straight but kicked strongly to score. Third placegetter Kintyre was 4-1/2 lengths away.
"Mach Ten is quite an alert horse, he's on his toes a little bit and that's just the way he is. He's always been like that since coming in for this preparation but he's very manageable and, as you saw today, it was really nice to see him fight back and win his trial," Harron said.
TRIAL 4: Sicilian (I Am Invincible), a stablemate to Perfect Proposal, looked sharp leading all the way to score a 1-1/2-length win over Learning To Fly, who hit the line stylishly in a good advertisement for first-season sire Justify. Sicilian's time was 51.38secs. Waterhouse and Bott, in partnership with Kestrel Bloodstock, went to $650,000 for Sicilian on the Gold Coast in January.
"She was purchased by a group who targeted some well-bred fillies that would hopefully go early at these races and she's certainly one of the pin-ups for them. She showed that great tactical speed and that made life a lot easier for her," Bott said.
TRIAL 5: Trapeze Artist was one of the highest-profile stallions of his group and Flying Trapeze gave the Widden sire a winner when he turned in a solid on-pace display to score by about a head from Empire Of Japan (Snitzel), who showed a good turn of foot from the back half of the field. Gold Bullion (Savabeel) was 3-3/4 lengths away third, but also finished off impressively under lighter riding than the quinella. The time was 52.38secs. Flying Trapeze was an $85,000 buy for Gary Portelli at the January Magic Millions Sale.
"I'm sure that there's improvement left in him, it was his first time away from home, the first time he's galloped on a track other than Warwick Farm so you've got to give him credence for that. I think he's going to improve off it," Portelli said.
TRIAL 6: Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) became the third on-speed winner for Waterhouse and Bott when she took out the trial in a time of 51.40secs. Challenged by Divine Glory (Hellbent) early in the straight, the $600,000 Magic Millions yearling who is a half-sister to Queen Of The Ball responded impressively to comfortably hold the runner-up by 1-1/4 lengths.
"She's a lovely filly and she's probably made the most improvement from when we had the jumpouts here a couple of weeks ago. She did a few things wrong then but that's really brought her on and she was really good there today and ran good time later in the morning when the track is getting a little bit chopped up," jockey Tim Clark said.
TRIAL 7: Ozzmosis (Zoustar) sat outside the leader and took over early in the straight to kick clear and then held off a late challenge from Snatch Reilly (Trapeze Artist) to score by a tick over a length in 51.38secs. Close up in third was Mexico (Capitalist), while there was also a bit to like about the way Godzilla (Shalaa) hit the line after an interrupted passage late. Ozzmosis, who is trained by Bjorn Baker, was a $250,000 Magic Millions buy for Darby Racing.
"He hasn't done very much at home, he's only had one very soft jumpout and fitness-wise he probably has a lot of improvement. I thought it was a good effort sitting outside the lead and we'll just make sure he comes through well but obviously he's very well-bred and we'd love to get him to the first race (Breeders Plate) if we can," Baker said.
TRIAL 8: In another good result for Coolmore stallion Justify, Just Gisella caught the eye when coming from the back to reel in Sky Artist (Trapeze Artist) and score a narrow win in 52.20secs. Zelta was another to work home well from the second half of the field, fishing third, just over half-a-length from the winner, who was a $200,000 buy for James Bester on the Gold Coast.
"She's such a laid-back filly, she's just really docile around the yard and only does what she has to so that's probably the first time I've actually seen her even semi-light up.It was very encouraging," Freedman said.
TRIAL 9: Fameux (Exceed And Excel) scored a two-length win over High King (Russian Revolution) and Make A Call (Extreme Choice), but not before shifting out noticeably over the final 250m and inconveniencing the two minor placegetters, adding merit to he fact he was able to cover the trial in 51.95secs.
"I've ridden him quite a few times at home, he's never done that before, but it's obviously a lot for them to take in their first trial here away from their home track. He was having a really big look at the TV screen, but he impressed me," jockey Chad Schofield said.
TRIAL 10: Tarabeau (Brazen Beau) wasn't initially entered for the trial, but took his place after some impressive work since fields were declared and proved up to the mark with a dominant display. Given time to settle early, he was put into the race rounding the home turn by jockey Regan Bayliss and quickly took control before coasting home to a two-length win over Maktabi (Written By) in 51.94secs. Another one from the Waterhouse/Bott yard, Tarabeau was a $90,000 Inglis Classic buy.
"I think that'll do him the world of good today. He'll keep improving, he had a good blow after that trial this morning, so he should take significant improvement and hopefully he's back here in a couple of weeks (for the Breeders Plate). I think he's a nice little horse," Bayliss said.
We got a look at the first 2YO fillies in Heat 2!
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 18, 2022
Perfect Proposal wins well, Satin And Silk and Queen Of The Mile fill the minor placings in a time of 51.06.@GaiWaterhouse1 @NewgateFarm @Chinahorseclub pic.twitter.com/oUEUMAtWyJ
Justify daughter Just Gisella takes out heat 8 for @MFreedmanRacing ahead of Sky Artist and Zelta who fill the minors in a time of 52.20.@CoolmoreAus @RoblRacing pic.twitter.com/gDhetEMIft
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 19, 2022
