Two of trainer Stephen Marsh’s talented 3-year-old fillies face very different challenges over the next few days but their results will tell the Cambridge trainer what he has to work with.
Marsh has big numbers racing at meetings starting Friday at Matamata, Te Rapa on Saturday and the big one, Pukekohe on Boxing Day where he has Glamour Tycoon in a red-hot Eight Carat Classic.
A last-start black type winner at Whanganui, Glamour Tycoon looks a Group 1 filly in the making but that will be tested by the depth of Tuesday’s field and the step up to 1600m.
“The 1600m is the really interesting part,” says Marsh.
“If she runs well in this race she has a lot more options, and big options, than she does if she doesn’t handle the 1600m.
“A lot of these fillies are in the same position. It is a hot field and a lot of trainers will get an indication of where they should head next.”
Glamour Tycoon meets last-start 1000 Guineas winner Molly Bloom, Orchestral and a strong support cast in what could be a testing 1600m on the huge Pukekohe track.
Marsh has good chances without a standout across the Boxing Day meeting, which has drawn some great punting races.
“We have some good, in-form horses like Academy Award [R2, No 6] and some good 3-year-olds in the Guineas, even though that is really strong too.
“I like my two in the last race [Lerado and Arrowette] but our best chance might actually be Mercurial [R3, No 2].
“He comes into the right type of race in good form and while he is drawn widish I hope Johny Johny goes hard and opens them, up so we can get across and get a gap.”
While Marsh knows winning any race on Boxing Day will be tough, he can go into Race 2 at Te Rapa tomorrow far more confident with Moet Down (4).
The 3-year-old filly may not have risen to Glamour Tycoon’s heights yet but has shown real talent in her two starts, which have produced fourths behind Crocetti and Solidify, the latter in a race where Glamour Tycoon finished second.
“She is a really nice filly and she has trialled so she is ready to go,” Marsh told the Herald.
“She has to be hard to beat and then she has a range of options afterwards.”
Moet Down has already been heavily backed from $3.30 to $2.30 but does meet a beautifully bred debutante in Akenehi.
The daughter of imported Counties Cup winner Igraine, Akenehi will be far better when she gets out to 1600m but is worth keeping an eye on.
As for Matamata today, Marsh rates Double Vision (R4, No 2) his best hope on a day of deep maiden races.
GALLOPING ACTION
Friday: Matamata
Saturday: Te Rapa, Trentham
Sunday: Gore
Boxing Day: Pukekohe, Otaki, Wingatui
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s racing editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse-racing carnivals.