Comeback jockey Blake Shinn has predicted a black-type future for New Zealand-bred galloper Touchdown, who lived up to his reputation and hot favouritism with a dominant victory in the A$130,000 2026 Melbourne Cup Carnival On Sale (1620m) at Flemington on Saturday.
The son of Almanzor made eye-catching progress through the grades as a four-year-old last season, winning four of his six starts between September and January.
Touchdown earned plenty of attention again with his resuming run at Sandown on July 15, where he dropped back to third-last from a wide gate and launched a big late finish into second.
Sent out as a commanding $1.95 favourite on Saturday, Touchdown had another tricky draw in barrier nine but found a perfect position in third and one off the rail.
Shinn switched across heels and presented Touchdown on the outside of the leaders at the 400m mark, and the favourite began to move through his gears.
Touchdown strode to the lead with 200m remaining and drew away to win by two lengths with his ears pricked.
The performance made a big impression on Shinn, who was back in winning form on Saturday in his first day back riding after more than nine months on the sidelines with a broken leg.
“This horse has a lot of promise and I’m really grateful to the connections for putting me on him today,” Shinn said.
“He’s a real raw talent. He’s not the finished product just yet. He has a great length of stride, and I think he’ll be better over further and probably in about 12 months’ time as well.
“The race didn’t really go the way I thought it would, there was an unexpected leader, but I was able to get a nice bit of cover and he relaxed beautifully.
“He had the race in his keeping a long way out. The further he went, the better he felt. He won with authority. He has a lot of scope and gave me the feel of a Group-class horse in the making.”
Trained by Ben, Will and JD Hayes, Touchdown has now had nine starts for five wins, three seconds and A$223,915 in stakes.
The Lindsay Park team has been delighted with the way Touchdown has come back for his latest preparation.
“While he didn’t win at Sandown, we thought it was a great run,” Ben Hayes said. “We had to go back from that draw, first-up on a heavy track, and he was super through the line and just peaked on his run. He really came through that well.
“Blake put him in a great spot today and it was an easy watch in the end. He was strong through the line and there was a bit of space between them. There’s a lot more to come and he’s an exciting horse going forward.
“We’re not going to get too carried away for now, we’ll just take him through the grades, but he might end up in a nice race a bit later in the preparation.”
Touchdown was bred by Brett Wilkinson and is by Cambridge Stud stallion Almanzor out of the Shamardal mare Shamardal Luck. Herself a two-time winner on the track, Shamardal Luck is the dam of five winners from five foals to race including Gr.3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) winner Shocking Luck and Listed placegetter Analytica.
Offered by Sullivan Bloodstock at the 2023 Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Touchdown failed to meet his $100,000 reserve. – NZ Racing Desk.
