Andrew Forsman is confident Aegon is up to the task that awaits him in Saturday’s All-Star Mile (1600m) if the five-year-old gets his fair share of luck at Moonee Valley.
The Cambridge trainer had hoped for a better barrier than eight in the A$5 million feature and will now hope the breaks fall the way of the son of the late Sacred Falls.
“He just needs the right run and it’s hard to know whether he will get that, but I suppose there’s a lot worse draws he could have got,” Forsman said.
“We have desperately been looking for an inside draw for a while now. He has been having to go back in his races and he will be giving them a start again and they’re not easy horses to be doing that against.
“We just hope they go quickly enough and he can slot into a good spot and he’s ready to run well if that happens.”
Aegon closed late to finish fourth in the Gr.1 C F Orr Stakes (1400m) two runs back and then ran fourth behind Alligator Blood, a race rival again, in the Gr.1 Futurity Stakes (1400m).
"First-up he hit the line well then last time it was more of a sprint home. He was probably looking for the mile already then, but we kept him to the 1400m to have him ready for this,” Forsman said.
"If you go back to his Champions’ Mile (Gr.1, 1600m) form in the spring, he was only a length off Alligator Blood and the very good ones.
"We know he is thereabouts, but a lot of it comes down to getting the right run.”
Aegon galloped well at Moonee Valley on Tuesday morning with race day rider Blaike McDougall in the saddle.
“He’s a pretty neat sort of horse and gets around most tracks so it’s not a problem,” Forsman said.
“It was good to give him a day out there, he was getting a little bit full of himself so he will have improved a heap.”
Forsman also has his Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) winner Mustang Valley in Sydney and she will be joined by at least one younger member of the stable.
Puccini three-year-old Full Of Sincerity will cross the Tasman following his strong run for third in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) while gifted juvenile Ethereal Star could also make the trip.
“Full Of Sincerity is booked to fly next Monday and he’ll have a couple of good gallops before he gets on the plane,” Forsman said.
“We’ll see how he travels and whether we need to race him, he could possibly run in the Tulloch Stakes (Gr.2, 2000m) or go straight to the Australian Derby (Gr.1, 2400m).”
Ethereal Star won the Listed Challenge Stakes (1100m) before she was runner-up in the Karaka Million (1200m) was then fifth after a saddle slipped ruined her chances in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m).
“She had a few days out in the paddock after that and we will decide in the next week or two whether she runs in the Gr.2 Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m) on the last day of The Championships or we turn her out for a good break and have a go at Melbourne in the spring,” Forsman said.
Mustang Valley was unplaced last time out in the Gr.1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) and had taken no harm from the outing.
“She came through the run well and I’m glad we got that into her, but we wouldn’t want to be giving her too many more of firm tracks,” Forsman said.
“There’s heaps of options and races for her every week and hopefully the rain comes for the Emancipation Stakes (Gr.2, 1500m), that’s a race on our radar.” – NZ Racing Desk
