As a son of dual Cox Plate winner and international star So You Think, Calculated has carried the weight of Hugh Bowman and then some at the Canterbury midweek meeting.
The colt was the clear $1.70 favourite in the 2YO Maiden (1200m) on Wednesday, and ultimately prevailed by a head to ease the fears of a large group of owners and Sydney’s premier trainer Chris Waller.
Calculated surged from the 200m mark to beat the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Brave Song ($17).
“He’s only won by a small margin but he’s all quality,” Waller said.
“He hasn’t learned what it’s about yet, but he will. We just have to get him to settle a little bit better.
“It was a pressure type of race being the short-priced favourite
“When you give him a chance to be a horse I think he’ll really settle down and go to the next level.”
Waller reckoned Calculated, who finished sixth on debut at Rosehill in February, would eventually thrive over a mile.
“You take a lot of confidence out of the sire he’s by. You’d be thinking a mile would be easy for him,” he said.
Twelve of So You Think’s 14 wins in Australia and Europe including the 2009 and 2010 Cox Plates were over further than 1800m.
“His father won the Cox Plate as a three-year-old. I wouldn’t imagine he’d be winning this year’s Cox Plate, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he got there in the future,” he said.
“He’s got to learn to relax a bit in the middle stages but when he does, and he will, he’s going to have a very bright future.
