Chris Waller is keeping a level head with two-year-old Counterattack but the fact the colt reminds him of two Group One-winning stablemates is hard to ignore.
The premier trainer has a history of unearthing late-blooming youngsters at this time of year and has high hopes Counterattack can become his latest.
The colt, which will line up in the Claret Stakes at Hawkesbury on Saturday, has shown enough ability in four starts for Waller to compare him favourably to Zoustar and Brazen Beau at the same stages of their careers.
“I’m quite excited about him without getting too far ahead of myself,” Waller said.
“He’s showing me the right signs.”
Zoustar won the corresponding race at Hawkesbury two years ago before going on to feature race success during the Brisbane winter carnival and returning the following spring to stamp himself the premier sprinter of his age group.
Dual Group One winner Brazen Beau was slated to run at Hawkesbury last year but bypassed the meeting and went straight to Queensland where he also figured prominently in the juvenile features.
Counterattack is in line to follow the Zoustar template but given he has topweight of 60kg at Hawkesbury, the trainer is wary of overtaxing the horse on a genuinely wet track.
“If it was heavy I would contemplate whether he’d run and maybe save him for a 1200 metre race in Doomben the following week and that’s something we did with Brazen Beau,” Waller said.
“He was supposed to race at Hawkesbury, we held him back and he blew them away in Brisbane.
“It’s just a good time of the year to have a nice colt in the stable going forward and progressing and he certainly fits that.”
Waller also has So Willie in the Hawkesbury race and says the More Than Ready youngster has done well since his debut third to Counterattack at Warwick Farm last month.
