The Spring Carnival might seem a way off, but Kaleo has given Ciaron Maher and the Southern Cross Syndications team cause to at least start thinking about it.
The two-year-old son of Churchill broke his maiden in Saturday’s $150,000 Remembering Margaret McDonald Handicap at Caulfield.
The 1400-metre event was just his second start, following a debut fourth placing in the 1200m Mornington Sires, and Maher’s assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said registering an early win was important with the youngster.
“He’s got the makings of a nice colt who should get over a little but further,” Turnbull said.
“You’d love to be thinking about spring with a colt of this calibre now. Whether we go one more and keep him at 1400 – there’s an option on the 17th of May at Flemington – but if not we can wait and the main thing is we got today out of the way.”
Kaleo, a $150,000 Inglis Classic purchase, is likely to be given the chance to prove himself a contender for the $3 million Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
Southern Cross Thoroughbreds has proven no strangers to feature success of late and this week saw Duke Of Bedford completed the prized Brierly Steeplechase/Grand Annual Steeplechase double at Warrnambool.
Ethan Brown partnered Kaleo’s to the Caulfield success and said there was a lot to like about the colt, but he had some kinks to iron out.
The $3 chance overcame a tardy getaway to score by 1-3/4 lengths from $2.70 betting sites favourite Prestige Ole in the five-horse field, with Kakkoii ($3.50) a further 1-1/2 lengths away third.
“He got away with it today in a small field, but we do need to get on top of it (slow start) because he is a nice horse and I can see him running in better races – he’s going to furnish into a lovely three-year-old,” Brown said.
“It worked out well; the field came back to us, we made up ground without using up too much petrol and we were in striking distance at the right time.
“What I liked was when I asked for him, he was right there for me, so it was a good sign going forward.”
