Kiwi trainer Richard Otto is preparing to take on Australia's best three-year-olds with Hawkes Bay Guineas winner St Andrew.
Otto predicted12 months ago that St Andrew was top shelf and he can't wait to get to Melbourne to prove he is right.
St Andrew clinched his trip to Melbourne when he won the G2 Hawkes Bay Guineas at onl;y his third start after a debut win in August and a third at Hastings on wet tracks.
“I said a year ago that this is my best horse and he's now showed how good he could really be,” Otto said.
“It was his first time on top of the ground and he is going to improve a lot with it.
“He'll go to Melbourne and run in the Carbine Club Stakes on Derby Day at Flemington and then the Sandown Guineas,” Otto said.
“The long-term aim is Sydney in the autumn and the Derby – he's bred to go two miles.”
A son of English Derby winner Sir Percy, St Andrew impressed in the Guineas at Hastings when he settled well back in the field before roaring down the outside of the track to win.
Mark Du Plessis rode St Andrew in his Guineas win and agrees with Otto that he is an exciting prospect.
“Richard rang me before he had ever raced and said I've got a good one and you'd better ride him,” Du Plessis said.
“He won his maiden well and only good horses can do this at their third start.”
* A START in next month's Sandown Classic is also under consideration for last Saturday's G1 Hastings Spring Classic winner Ransomed.
“He's out in the paddock for a few days to freshen-up. A nice race for him might be the Sandown Classic,” trainer Gary Vile said.
“If he doesn't go to Melbourne then we'll go to Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup day.”
Ransomed should already be racing in Australia for Chris Waller but failed vet test following a sizeable offer.
“Chris thought he was a Sydney horse but I'm sure glad I've still got him now,” Vile said.
* KIWI mare mare Zurella will make one more attempt for a G1 win in Melbourne after she finished ninth in last Saturday's G2 Blazer Stakes at Flemington.
"I thought she went okay," said Ritchie."We will have a tinker with her gear and will trial her with side winkers and maybe consider blinkers.
“We will give her one more crack in Melbourne in the Myer Classic and then look toward something like the Captain Cook Stakes or the Thorndon Mile at home."
