By Bren O'Brien
Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young will step their promising Zoustar 2-year-old Barcali up to stakes-level next time out after he broke through for his maiden victory over 1200m at Ballarat on Tuesday.
The $170,000 Melbourne Premier Sale purchase was having his second start and having settled on the pace, showed too much fight to defeat Imperial Lad (All Too Hard), while the Lindsay Park debutant Arzani (NZ) (Jimmy Choux {NZ}) worked home nicely for third.
Young said post-race that the colt, who is out of the stakes-placed mare And Rock (Fastnet Rock), will likely head to either a Listed race at Caufield or the G3 SA Sires' Produce S. at Morphettville on May 11.
"He has always shown quite a lot this horse given he's a Zoustar colt," she said, "He was a bit unlucky last start got caught off the track, and this was a nice win and he's a nice horse going forward."
"I think he will get a bit further later on. Where do we go from here? There's a few options. There's the Redoute's Choice, the Listed race on the 11th, or we could go to the Sires in Adelaide."
"He hasn't been up that long and we’ve been a bit quiet with him, so I think we'll get at least another couple of runs out of him."
"We’ve been a bit quiet with him, so I think we'll get at least another couple of runs out of him." - Natalie Young
The second of the 1200m maidens was taken out by Mr Deadline (More Than Ready {USA}) for trainer Tony McEvoy.
The colt, a $220,000 Premier Sale buy out of the stakes-winning and Group 1-placed filly Extension Of Time (Dash For Cash), was sent to the front and with the benefit of having had two previous starts, proved too strong, defeating Busuttin and Young's Why Big Bry (NZ) (El Roca), who did well to finish within 1.75l having missed the start.
McEvoy's stable representative Michael Shepherdson felt better things were in store for Mr Deadline, who had run third then second at his two previous starts.
"He progressed nicely. He's been knocking on the door and racing well. He is still learning the caper," he said.
"We can step him up into stronger races and it looks like we’ve got a nice horse on our hands." - McEvoy stable representative Michael Shepherdson
"He did it really nicely, got to the front, controlled the tempo and got into the rhythm. Luke (Currie) rated him really well and he was strong to the line."
"He's been progressive. We’ve always liked him all the way through and now a bit of race sense has come from some race experience, we can step him up into stronger races and it looks like we’ve got a nice horse on our hands."
Huckleberry (Written Tycoon) was third, while Groundswell (Fastnet Rock), the $2.3m sales topper from last year's Easter Sale and full brother to Shoals, finished fourth, beaten by 3.75l on debut in a performance which suggested he may appreciate more ground.
Another million dollar yearling in the Pinecliff colours featured in the 1100m fillies in Southbank (Fastnet Rock), but she was well beaten as Missile Mantra (Smart Missile) defied the early raceday pattern to charge home and win on debut.
A $30,000 buy for Triple Crown, Missile Mantra is out of Wecansay Mak (Starcraft {NZ}), a full sister to Group 1 winner We Can Say It Now.
Team Snowden representative Andrew Angelone said the stable had high expectations for the filly, who they expect to improve greatly heading into her 3-year-old year.
"She's a slow maturing filly, who has to develop a bit more but we are happy with her," he said.
Mick Price's filly Sandsation (Dissident) looked the winner 50m out but was run down late, while the Godolphin filly Tragic (Reset), the half-sister to stakes-winner Calliope (Exceed and Excel), was third.
