Last season's rising three-year-old star Demonetization made a pleasing return to the track for trainer Nigel Tiley at the Avondale trials on Tuesday and is set to make a raceday return later this spring.
The
four-year-old entire won three of his four starts as a three-year-old, but his
classic season was cut short after the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m) where he
suffered a stress fracture to a hind fetlock shortly after the win.
Ridden by Jason Waddell, Demonetization wasn't pushed in his 1000m trial at Avondale, finishing towards the tail of the eight horse field, but he pleased both jockey and trainer with his hit-out.
"I was very happy with him," Tiley said. "He was just there to stretch his legs and have a bit of a hit-out and Jason was really happy with him.
"We have been really patient with him and have been in absolutely no hurry at all. That's just step one in his comeback."
Demonetization's next step could be a hit-out over a sprint distance and a tilt at further Group Two glory in the Coupland's Bakeries Mile (1600m) at Riccarton in November could be on the cards.
"There's nothing set in concrete at the moment," Tiley said. "I've put him in the Coupland's mile. If he came up and we thought that was a nice race for him then we would probably try and head towards that.
"I think we are just going to take it one step at a time and we'll probably just kick him off in his own class somewhere, either a 1200m or 1400m. Once safely through that we'll start making some long-range plans with him."
Meanwhile, his stakes-winning stablemate Brighton is not too far away from a raceday return.
The Buffalo Man gelding was a last-start runner-up in the Gr.2 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Counties in April and is being kept for better tracks later this spring.
"He's still out at the beach and is getting through a nice bit of work out there," Tiley said.
"We are just leaving him out there at the moment while the tracks are a little bit wet, we can get a lot more work into him out there. He will be very forward when he comes in." – NZ Racing Desk
