The Chris Waller trained colt narrowly won the Group III ATC Canonbury Stakes
when resuming from a short summer spell and then lost his rider Hugh Bowman when
favourite in the Group II ATC Todman Stakes. Performer (image Steve Hart) veered sideways sharply inside
the furlong, slinging Bowman to the ground and was subsequently ordered back to
the trials.He passed his trial test and ran in the Golden Slipper, but beat only two horses home finishing with an inglorious result to end what had initially looked such a promising season.
August 1 means we all start with a clean slate and Performer stepped out at the trials on Tuesday morning at Rosehill with a can do attitude for his second trial this preparation.
Golden Slipper winner Estijaab led under a hold and was not asked to do much to the line, while Performer was given a slap with the whip and responded well to surge past the leader and win by a length from his stablemate Fiesta, who also hit the line well.
Estijaab finished a soft fifth, a length and three-quarters from Performer, who covered the 900m in 54.48 seconds.
A $450,000 Magic Millions purchase from the Newhaven Park draft, Performer runs for a big group of owners including his trainer, so they will all be hoping this talented colt can deliver this season on the potential he has always shown.
Click here to see all the trial results from this morning.
