A recent jump-out has kept the Tony McEvoy-trained Nistaan up to the mark for the VOBIS Gold Ingot for which the rising three-year-old is favourite to break his maiden.
Nistaan resumed with a third at Caulfield on July 1 over 1200m behind the talented Lone Eagle and Evil Cry at his second start and his first since he was runner-up in the Magic Millions Clockwise Classic at Ballarat in November.
McEvoy was pleased with the colt’s return and thought the way he raced indicated he wanted the step up to 1400m in Saturday’s $150,000 race, restricted to two-year-olds nominated to the VOBIS Gold series.
“He was very ring-rusty in that race as he hadn’t raced for a while,” McEvoy said.
“He was on the bit, then off the bit and didn’t travel as well as I know he can and just got a bit tired late because of that.
“He came up to be really competitive with those horses and then his condition gave out and he just weakened the last bit.
“But I thought it was an excellent return.”
Nistaan had a jump-out at Flemington last Friday to have him ready for the 1400m.
McEvoy was overseas at the time but said reports from his Flemington foreman Michael Shepherdson were that Nistaan had trained on perfectly.
“I watched his jump-out and he trialled really nicely,” McEvoy said.
“That’s topped him off very well to go straight to the 1400 metres second-up on Saturday.”
McEvoy said Saturday’s race fitted in perfectly for Nistaan who is the early $2.70 favourite and the trainer will be guided by the colt’s performance to assess spring aspirations.
“I’ve entered him for the 2017 Caulfield Guineas but I’ve just got to see where this horse takes us,” he said.
“I think he’s a class horse who will run in the good black-type races throughout the spring. Whether it’s the Guineas or not, he can tell us.”
