A couple of juvenile heats at Rosehill on Friday morning produced winners for Justify (USA) and Churchill (IRE), while we also had another look at much maligned Scampi, who started a hot favourite in the Breeders Plate only to disappoint and finish unplaced.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Justify colt Storm Boy had the advantage of gate one and made good use of it to jump fast and lead easily before going on to win the 900m heat by a comfortable three lengths. Scampi, who led in the Breeders Plate and gave nothing under pressure, was restrained back in the field and motored to the line impressively for third. Tactics when he goes back to the races will be interesting.
Storm Boy was a $450,000 Magic Millions purchase from Coolmore for Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing/Kestrel Thoroughbreds and is the first foal of Pelican, a metro juvenile winning Fastnet Rock daughter of two time New Zealand Horse of the Year Seachange.
The second heat was run in slower time with the winner being the David Payne trained Churchill filly Trafalgar Square, who looked a natural runner, surging forward from a wide gate to sit outside the leader and coasting to the line to win by nearly two lengths over I Am Invincible filly Canara, who worked to the line stylishly for second under a hold.
A $110,000 Magic Millions Book 2 purchase for her trainer from the Telemon Thoroughbreds draft, Trafalgar Square is the second named foal from Amnesiac, an unraced half-sister by Excellent Art (GB) to the dam of Group I winner Prompt Response and Group III winner Prompt Return.
Click here for all the trial results at Breednet with Sale Mail and at Racing NSW with video.
