A racing campaign tailored towards the back end of the Sydney autumn carnival will go up a level for Red Extension in the Hawkesbury Guineas.
Heys will give Red Extension a class examination in Saturday’s $200,000 race as he looks towards next month’s $400,000 Inglis 3YO Guineas at Scone.
“Just from a long way out I thought he could be an ideal candidate for the Guineas on a big track like Scone,” Heys said.
“I’ve been waiting 18 months to try and get him there.”
Red Extension’s career has been restricted to three starts for wins at Warwick Farm and Kembla Grange and a placing on debut at Hawkesbury last month.
It’s been a carefully thought-out entry into racing as Heys took a low-key path through the carnival.
“I didn’t want to expose him and be charging into the autumn because if he was to be around the mark in the Hawkesbury or Scone Guineas, there’s a number of races in Brisbane he could run in,” Heys said.
“Three-year-olds on the up with that kind of profile have a great record going up there.”
Heys is expected to keep Rory Hutchings on Red Extension after the apprentice did everything right on the horse in a last-start win at Kembla Grange.
There are 14 entries for the Guineas, with New Zealand filly No More Tears the highest-rated runner.
But under the weight conditions of the provincial race, the Gerald Ryan-trained Spill The Beans will be the 58kg topweight ahead of last-start Randwick winner Handfast on 57kg.
Handfast won the South Pacific Classic during The Championships after being given a perfect James McDonald ride.
Highly rated import Spiritjim is topweight for the Hawkesbury Gold Cup with 60kg.
A starter in the past two editions of the Prix de l’Arc Triomphe, Spiritjim is now trained by Chris Waller.
Waller has nominated seven horses for the Cup, an entry that far outweighs his numbers for the Godolphin Crown in which he will have to rely on She’s Clean and Sense And Reason.
Last-start Sapphire Stakes winner Two Blue heads the weights for the Crown with 59kg.
