Lightly raced colt Messerschmitt is expected to have taken improvement from a recent maiden win in preparation for a lucrative sales-restricted race at Caulfield.
The Anthony Freedman-trained Messerschmitt is the only horse with race-winning experience in Saturday’s $250,000 Inglis Premier (1200m) for two-year-olds at Caulfield, which has five first starters in the field of seven.
Messerschmitt finished fourth in the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield on debut in October before resuming from a break with a narrow win in an 1100m maiden against his own age at Ballarat a week ago after sitting outside the leader.
Freedman’s son and assistant trainer, Sam Freedman, said the Inglis Premier had been part of the plans for Messerschmitt since the spring.
The colt also remains in contention for a start in the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) three weeks later.
“We were happy with his first-up run at Ballarat and we left for there to be a little bit of improvement from that run,” Sam Freedman said.
“We’ve been really happy with him going into Saturday.
“We wanted to ride him a bit quieter first-up and have something to chase but he jumped so well and ended up going forward.
“He raced a bit greenly and probably won on ability alone. As he races a bit more he’ll start to hopefully put them away a little bit easier than he did.”
A $140,000 yearling from last year’s Premier sale in Melbourne, Messerschmitt steps up to 1200m which Freedman does not see as any concern.
“We still think he’s probably going to be a nicer three-year-old and think he’ll get to a mile,” he said.
“The 1200 metres should probably allow him to relax and work into the race a little bit more.
“He’s got a lot of scope to him. We don’t see him as just an out-and-out two-year-old.”
The Tony McEvoy-trained debutante Kinky Boom has been installed early favourite after winning a barrier trial in Adelaide by 8-1/2 lengths on Monday.
Kinky Boom was at $2 on Wednesday afternoon ahead of Messerschmitt at $4.
Another McEvoy-trained filly, Aristocratic Miss, who has placed in her two starts, has blinkers for the first time on Saturday and is at $4.80.
