Education time is over as a number of the two-year-olds on the books of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are about to hit the racetrack.
Two fillies from the powerful stable stepped out for the first time at Sandown on Saturday with Axzelina scoring in the Ladbrokes Racing Club Handicap scoring while stablemate Links finished in fifth place.
Assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said the stable had a number of juveniles ready to hit the track and it was a matter of switching them around their stables to find the right race.
Ridden by Linda Meech, Axzelina ($7) was headed in the straight before fighting back to score by a short-head from Austmarr ($8) with Mislead ($101) a further 2-Œ lengths away third.
âItâs good condition wise for them to now have a run,â Turnbull said.
âIâm not saying they will go to the paddock, they may have one or two more runs, but there is no set plan for them.
âWeâll see how they come through this and map out a plan from there.â
Turnbull said expectations were not high with the fillies, although the stable thought both Axzelina and Links could run well.
âThey had trialled up well, but it was hard to split them as they had been working up well at home,â Turnbull said.
âWe debuted a colt on Thursday night that we thought would have run well, but he didnât, so with unraced horses, you donât know how theyâre going to go, but thankfully they both ran well.â
Axzelina was dwarfed by the runner-up Austmarr, but Turnbull said the winner, a daughter of Snitzel from the Zabeel mare Axiom, was a âtough little fillyâ that would grow out and strengthen in time.
Meech said Austmarr had headed her in the straight, getting around a neck in front inside the final 200m of the race.
âBut she pulled out her good breeding and her good training and took off,â Meech said.