Gundagai trainer Michael Murphy is daring to dream with three-year-old Merlin Mustang, who is on the road to the Sydney autumn carnival after a third straight victory at Kembla Grange on Wednesday.
Merlin Mustang took another step up from provincial to city grade in the Schweppes Handicap (1600m) at the Australian Turf Club meeting.
Murphy now hopes to throw him in the deep end by taking on some of the better races for three-year-olds.
“It’s just nice to have a nice horse and be realistically looking at some feature races now in Sydney,” said Murphy, who used to train at Kembla Grange.
Merlin Mustang controlled the race from the front in his first attempt at the distance before going on to defeat Aliyana Tilde by 1-3/4-lengths with a head to Rocky Two in third.
Merlin Mustang was unplaced at his first three starts but Murphy said the gelding had gone forward in leaps and bounds in the past couple of months, resulting in his three wins in a row.
“We’ve got a few options and we’re just going to have to let the dust settle and have a look where we go now,” Murphy said.
“We’ve always thought he could be a Derby horse and now it’s becoming more realistic.
“He’s also nominated for the Australian Guineas at Flemington but he’s been up for quite a bit so it’s just a matter of mapping out which way to go.”
The Kembla meeting also marked a significant milestone in the career of highly-rated apprentice Sam Clipperton.
Clipperton bagged his second metropolitan double this week and reduced his city claim from three kilograms to two in the process.
Victory on the John O’Shea-trained Carmine King in the Tab.com.au Handicap (1200m) brought up Clipperton’s 20th metropolitan winner to reduce his city claim.
Not long after he made it win number 21 when he got the best out of Onecatstoomany for his master Ron Quinton in the Australian Turf Club at Kembla Handicap (1200m).
“There’s a new challenge ahead with a two kilo claim but I think if I can keep my consistency things can keep rolling on,” Clipperton said.
“It’s also great to get a winner for Ron because he’s been such a big help to me.”
With acceptances already out, Clipperton will still claim three kilograms at Canterbury on Friday and Warwick Farm on Saturday before his 2kg claim comes into effect.
AAP TURF
