Tried horses are the bread and butter of Jason Deamer’s stable but the Newcastle horseman has a handy blueprint when it comes to nurturing a talented two-year-old.
Deamer was working for trainer David Throsby during the early 2000s and was heavily involved with Lovely Jubly during a stellar juvenile season in which she won the 2002 Magic Millions Classic and two Group 1 races in Brisbane.
He later went on to train her in his own right, producing her to finish second in the 2003 Coolmore Classic.
Two decades on and Deamer appears to have another promising youngster on his hands in Hard To Say.
The two-year-old raced greenly at his only start but hit the line resolutely to finish fourth to subsequent Golden Gift winner Sejardan in the Breeders’ Plate (1000m) at Randwick in October.
He was given a short break and returns at Rosehill on Saturday in the hope of following in the footsteps of Lovely Jubly and qualifying for a Magic Millions Classic start at the Gold Coast in January.
“That’s the plan at this stage. We will aim towards getting him to the Gold Coast,” Deamer said.
“If we go around Saturday and happens to win, that eases a lot of the pressure of having to get him into the Magic Millions, just that prizemoney alone.
“Wyong (Magic Millions) is also pencilled in, it just depends what happens on the weekend.”
Racing under the Dynamic Syndications banner, Hard To Say is by Exceed And Excel and was a $160,000 yearling purchase.
He has tuned up for Saturday with a recent barrier trial win and while he is yet to race on a wet track, he did handle rain-affected conditions in his first public trial at Scone.
Deamer said the youngster had shown ability from the outset and continued to progress.
“Even before I got him from the breaker, Shane Rose at Bimbadeen Park, he said he was a natural horse, like he’d been here before,” Deamer said.
“Then he went to Gooree Park and there were the same reports there before he even came to me, so he has always shown a bit from day dot.
“I’m happy with the way he is going and it would be good to reward Dynamic Syndications. This is their first yearling that they’ve given me and so far we’ve been going well.”
