Johnny The Kid on a Spring Champion Stakes path
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will put Johnny The Kid on a traditional Spring Champion Stakes path after he broke his maiden in emphatic fashion at the midweek Kensington track meeting.
While the colt boasts solid form references from his two-year-old season, including a sound fifth behind Dublin Down in the Pago Pago Stakes (1200m), Bott believes his forte will be over a mile and beyond.
Johnny The Kid passed his first distance test with an all-the-way victory in Wednesday’s Marcellin College Randwick Handicap (1550m), confirming plans to head to races such as the Listed Dulcify Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on October 5 and the Gloaming Stakes (1800m) a week later.
The Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) is at Randwick on October 26.
“Maybe through a Dulcify, Gloaming to a Spring Champion. He has had a good grounding for it,”‘ Bott said.
“It is plenty of runs but he is the sort of horse who could cop it.
“Off the back of that, I think he’ll get further. Between that 600 and 400-metre mark, it took him a little while to get into gear and he was still a little bit flat-footed.
“We might stretch him over a bit further, test him up against his own age in some better-quality races and see how he measures up.”
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 11, 2024
Nash Rawiller had to work early to get Johnny The Kid ($1.85 fav) to the front but once there, he controlled the race, extending his advantage over the final 200m to score by three lengths over Rawton ($19), who was doing his best work late after bungling the start, with Ocean Diva ($21) third.
The opening race was also dominated by the frontrunner with Written Tycoon three-year-old Mayne improving from a debut placing at Warwick Farm to post a promising win in the Anamoe @ Darley Handicap (1300m).
Co-trainer Rob Archibald says the stable hold Mayne in high regard, although they feel he will be better again in the autumn.
“Second-up, 1300 for the second time, Tyler (Schiller) did a great job, he rated him beautifully in front,” Archibald said.
“He was really strong late, so he is on the up.
“He deserves to be set a few loftier goals. We still feel like he is six months away, but he is a really nice horse in the making.”
Mayne ($4.40) had 2-1/4 lengths to spare over California Bay ($6) with Maori Chief ($1.95) another half-length in arrears.
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