Looking Ahead puts the spotlight on runners of interest across Australia and New Zealand. Whether they are a particularly well-bred or high-priced runner having their first or second start, a promising galloper returning to the track or a horse which has trialled particularly well, we will aim to give you something to follow.
On Thursday, we have put the spotlight on a trio of first starters. A Per Incanto (USA) filly steps out in familiar colours at Wyong, while a Pierro gelding makes his first appearance at Bendigo and a pricey son of Teofilo (Ire) looks ready to make his mark at Pakenham.
Wyong, Race 1, 1.50pm AEDT, 1800-Respect Mdn, $35,000, 1000m
Per Ivy (NZ), 3-year-old filly, (Per Incanto {USA}) x Ivy Hall {NZ} {Towkay})
Owner Carl Holt has a strong affinity for the progeny of Per Incanto (USA), mainly through recent The Hunter winner Lost And Running (NZ) and this filly, on debut for Matthew Smith, represents in his colours. Per Ivy looked pretty sharp in a recent Rosehill trial win where she won comfortably with big margins back through the field.
Per Ivy (NZ) as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Smith paid $40,000 for her out of the Sledmere Stud draft at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. She is a half-sister to stakes-placed Princeton Spirit (NZ) (Nadeem). The extended family includes a couple of Group 1 winners in Nadeem and Candide (NZ) (Sound Reason {Can}) as well as a host of stakes winners.
Bendigo, Race 3, 2.30pm AEDT, The Big Screen Company Mdn, $25,000, 1400m
Northern King, 3-year-old gelding, (Pierro x Secret Selection {Redoute's Choice})
The nick of Pierro with Redoute's Choice mares has been spectacularly successful, producing 33 winners, nine stakes winners and three Group 1 winners, Arcadia Queen, Regal Power and Levendi. This Peter Moody-trained 3-year-old has a while to go to get to those heights, but he shapes as a horse whose progress should be watched.
He was fifth in a recent Pakenham jump-out but was only beaten just over 1l, finishing in a clump of horses over 1000 metres. Up to 1400 metres on debut would seem suitable.
A homebred for the McMaster family, he is a half-brother to Listed Singapore Gold Cup winner Big Hearted (Hallowed Crown), with his dam Secret Selection a three-quarter sister to Listed winner Detective (Snitzel). Their dam, and Northern King's grandam, Covertly (Metal Storm {Fr}), won the G1 Railway S.
Pakenham, Race 2, 6.15pm AEDT, Pak Cup Countdown Is On Mdn, $35,000, 1200m
Mountain Range, 3-year-old colt, (Teofilo {Ire} x Andes {Street Cry {Ire}})
Mountain Range holds the honour of being Teofilo's most expensive Australian yearling, having cost Ciaron Maher Racing $460,000 when he topped the first day of the 2020 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
Mountain Range as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Bred by Yulong, he is out of the unraced Street Cry (Ire) mare Andes, the half-sister to Group winner Aramayo (Poet's Voice {GB}) and a sister to G1 Australian Derby runner-up Tupac Amaru. It's the family of multiple international Group 1 winner In The Wings (GB), as well as Group 1 winner High Hawk (Ire) (Shirley Heights {GB}).
His recent Cranbourne jump-out saw him work home reasonably well on quite a heavy track and debuting on drier ground would appear to be his advantage here.
Looking Back
Treporti (I Am Invincible) ran a good second first-up from a spell at Sandown, while Gee Gee Raindrops (Manhattan Rain) only managed seventh at Launceston.
Our Doomben runner, Island Magic (Hinchinbrook), didn’t get a chance to run as that meeting was abandoned.
