Trainer Desleigh Forster is likely to set Apache Chase on a Golden Eagle path after the well-performed son of Better than ready made it two out of two this preparation when comfortably accounting for his market rival Emerald Kingdom in an Open 1400m contest at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Apache Chase had won the Weetwood in his first-up run two weeks ago.
This latest win boosted the four-year-old’s record to a proud seven wins from sixteen starts with over $871 125 in the prize-money bank.
Apache Chase confirmed that he has another string to his bow with Saturday’s win in which he sat in second spot behind Emerald Kingdom until the home straight where Jim Byrne, who has ridden Apache Chase in his last eight starts, asked the gelding to flex its muscles and Apache Chase simply proved to be too strong in the run home scoring by a clear-cut 1.50 length margin.
“He proved in the Weetwood he doesn’t have to lead,” said Forster, reiterating the point.
The Weetwood result was arguably also a really positive pointer to the Apache Chase’s ability to handle different types of racetracks as he gains more maturity and widens his options.
Eagle Farm, for whatever reason, is a very particular racing surface … lapped up by certain runners and disliked by others. Apache Chase is the masterclass act in the first category with six of his seven wins coming at the track … significantly in the two Group 3’s (the Vo Rogue and the Fred Best … as well as in the Listed Daybreak Lover).
The Golden Eagle, a race at set weight conditions, will be run at Rosehill on October 30. It carries a whopping prize-money pool of $7.5 million.
While five of Apache Chase’s wins have come over 1400m, the Forster trained runner does have a win over 1500m (the Golden Eagle race distance) to his credit … and is hard to find a reason for Apache Chase not to take up the inviting challenge.
Forster has even shrugged aside the difficulties that could be posed by the possible on-going Covid 19 restrictions situation with regard to the Queensland border.
“If we have to do quarantine, Jimmy (Byrne) and I will just have to suck it up,” said Forster.
“As I said to Jimmy, these sort of races like the Golden Eagle don’t come around often. So, I think we’ll give it a crack. Its still three weeks away. We’ll work it out.”
