Lightly-raced sprinter Basil Da Man has been a revelation for his South Australian trainer David Jolly who will give him his most serious test in the Reaan Cup at Caulfield.
Unbeaten in three starts, the Blevic four-year-old has improved beyond expectations and resumes against an accomplished field of sprinters over 1000m on Saturday.
“He has been a horse who has snuck up on us a bit,” Jolly said.
“He is going a bit better than what we thought he would.
“We thought he was a handy horse who could win a couple of races but he’s just kept improving.”
Plagued by shin-soreness in his first two campaigns, Basil Da Man won his race debut at Halidon in September and resumed with a midweek win at Morphettville in December then scored again at the same track in Saturday class in mid-January.
“He won his maiden up the scrub and he has gone on from there,” Jolly said.
“He’s only lightly raced and most Blevics do get better with age so we have looked after him a little bit.
“He is a progressive horse and a very strong-willed horse who doesn’t like to get beaten which is a always a good and rare quality.”
Jolly said next Saturday’s Group Three Evright.com Stakes (1100m) and Group One The Goodwood at set weights in May were a little too ambitious for Basil Da Man but he could head to Warrnambool for the Listed Wangoom Hcp (1200m) on May 4.
“There were not a lot of options for him over here (Adelaide) so we thought we would try him in Melbourne and give him a trip away which might improve him a little bit,” he said.
“We are feeling our way with him, just testing the water a bit, and hopefully he will measure up.
“Saturday will give us a pretty good guide where he is at and where he will be in the future.
“It is a race slightly off the top where he hasn’t got much weight against open horses who have been well and truly exposed.
“We will see how he goes but at this stage I would say we would be looking at sprint handicaps for him where he can get in on the minimum weight.
“He could be a Wangoom-sort of horse and we might even look at The Straight Six at Flemington (on May 21).
“We will only give him a light winter and then have him on top of his game for some of those sprints early in the spring.”
Basil Da Man, to be ridden by Chris Symons, has firmed from his opening quote of $7.50 to $4.80 with TAB Sportsbet.
The Robert Smerdon-trained Beyond Pardon, resuming from a spell, is the well-backed favourite, firming from $4.60 to $3.
Last-start Caulfield 1000m winner Galbraith has eased from $4.60 to $5.50.
AAP TURF
