Two three-year-olds and a gelding of more than 50 starts comprise this week's edition of horses to follow around the tracks in New South Wales.
UNION DUES
All eyes were not surprisingly on the Frankel x More Joyous filly Woman, which won this 1250m maiden at Canterbury in good style, but the third-placed Union Dues is one to also keep an eye on. The NZ-bred daughter of Fastnet Rock was stepping out for her second career start after being beaten 2-1/4 lengths on debut at Seymour in May. Following a sluggish getaway from the barriers, Union Dues had trouble keeping pace with the others and quickly found herself three lengths astern of the second last runner in transit. After tacking onto the field just before the 800m mark, the filly relaxed for rider Brenton Avdulla before being stoked up again just before the turn. Looked as though she would labour to the post, and understandably so, but she had the temerity to get up and run third. Considering what transpired in this race, don't think connections could have asked for a better run.
Career record (2:0-0-1).
Possible race to look for – 3YO Fillies 1300m Maiden Handicap at Warwick Farm October 2
PARET
As far as debuts go, this was probably up there with as good as you will see in midweek company. The three-year-old colt had trialled well leading into this 1250m maiden and had to overcome significant trouble to win. Stepped out awkwardly at the jump and landed out the back over-racing. Began to settle for rider Glyn Schofield as the tempo of the race increased but found himself cluttered up behind runners at the top of the straight. Schofield brought him to the outside with less than 200m to the post and within a heart beat the colt and raced up to his rivals and won eased up by a three-quarters of a length. Yes, he was assisted by a fast run race and a comparatively slow last 600m, but there was more to this performance than what the numbers tell you – it was arrogant.
Career record (1:1-0-0).
Possible race to look for – 3YO Benchmark 70 1300m Handicap at Rosehill on September 23.
ARISE AUGUSTUS
He may be a seven-year-old now but this horse is flying. He won his first two runs this preparation before an excellent fourth in the Newcastle Hurricane (900m) on Saturday. 900m races are typically fraught with danger because often only one thing needs to go wrong and the race is over. In this case, Arise Augustus faced a virtually impossible task to win from where he was in the run. Sat last and hooked widest into the straight in a race where they dashed home 32.77 for the last 600m. To give you an idea of how slow they went through the first 300m; in the other 900m contest on the day, they ran 1.22 seconds faster for the first 300m and 1.16 seconds slower for the last 600m – a considerable difference for a race of that distance.
Career record (51:10-9-5).
Possible race to look for – Flying 1000m Handicap at Warwick Farm on October 2.
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