Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley are gearing up for what could be a big day for their stable at Rosehill on Saturday.
The Byerley Park training partnership will line-up talented three-year-old Sacred Satono in the Listed Munro Stakes (1200m) and they are expecting a positive result after drawing barrier two with their colt.
“He has got a good draw and should be sitting in the first four or five and we will see what happens after that,” Cooksley said. “There are a couple of others that go alright in it.”
Cooksley has been overseeing Sacred Satono’s preparation in Sydney where the son of Satono Aladdin finished a luckless seventh first-up in the Gr.2 Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick earlier this month.
The South Auckland horseman has been pleased with the way his colt has come through the race and said he has continued to improve in the lead-up to Saturday’s assignment.
“It was a good run,” Cooksley said. “He missed the jump a little bit and clipped heels five or six strides later.
“There were some pretty good horses in that race and he only got beaten four lengths, so it was a really good run I thought.
“He has come through the run well and he has improved since then. He has got a good draw so he should run well.”
While success in Sydney is nothing new to Wallace, having tasted Group One glory across the Tasman with the likes of Kingston Bay, Lord Revenir, Darazari and Star Dancer, having a horse competing on Golden Slipper Day isn’t lost on the pair.
“Bruce has had a fair bit of success over here, and there is a bit of a buzz around with the Slipper, so we are looking forward to Saturday,” Cooksley said.
Sacred Satono was also entered for the Gr.1 Galaxy (1100m) but Cooksley said the Munro Stakes was always their primary objective.
“He was always going to run in the three-year-old race,” he said.
All going to plan, Sacred Satono will return to Randwick next month to take his place in the A$1million Gr.2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m).
A $34,000 purchase by Wallace out of Rich Hill Stud’s 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft, Sacred Satono has won three and placed in four of his 12 starts to date, including victory in the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m), and banked nearly $200,000 in prizemoney. – NZ Racing Desk
