Trainer Mitchell Freedman has Guineas ambitions for promising colt Bravo Tango who will begin his campaign in the Inglis Dash at Flemington.
Boom sprinter Nature Strip headlines the field of 12 for the richest race on Saturday’s Kensington Stakes program.
Freedman pinpointed Saturday’s $250,000 Inglis Dash (1100m), for three-year-olds eligible for the Inglis Race Series for Bravo Tango’s 2018 return.
“He’s either on an Australian Guineas or a Randwick Guineas path should he keep stepping up to the mark,” Freedman said.
“This is the race we picked out to kick off in. It’s been a race with a little less depth in previous years than this year but it was part of his program.”
Bravo Tango showed his ability in his first campaign, winning at Donald and Geelong before closing strongly for second to Snitzepeg in a Listed 1400m race at Flemington in early October.
“He appears to have probably come back in as good a shape if not better through natural maturity,” Freedman said.
“So we’re really looking forward to having him back at the races on Saturday.
“It’s always been pretty well known to us that he had a lot of ability.
“We had the spring in mind for him but I just didn’t think he needed a real taxing preparation so we decided to turn him out after his run at Flemington.”
Freedman said Bravo Tango had only had one quiet trial going in and expects the first-up performance to bring his fitness on regardless of the result.
“I’m not sure that he can win but if he’s strong to the line it would be a good first-up performance I would have thought,” he said.
“Obviously Nature Strip has got the score on the board.
“But this is a pretty handy horse and we look forward to seeing him at the races.”
Nature Strip has won his past two starts by a combined 11 lengths.
Freedman is now training at Ballarat having moved from Warrnambool in the past three months.
The Listed Kensington Stakes has attracted a field of eight including former Hong Kong sprinter Amber Sky, one of three runners for the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra stable along with Flamberge and Rock ‘N’ Gold.
