Another Gluyas ‘Guru’ to fire at Flemington

Whether Guru Warrior will be able to reach the heights of stablemate Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Goldrush Guru remains to be seen, but Andrew Gluyas believes the relation has plenty of staying promise.

Guru Warrior will tackle a 2000m race for three-year-olds on Saturday having won his maiden impressively at Murray Bridge last start and hinted that another Derby could be on the cards.

“He showed us that he was a horse that would get over ground, he did, he won well at Murray Bridge, so we’ll just sort of see where he fits in against the three-year-olds at the moment, in sort of the off season, and then we’ll just perhaps look at our carnival with him. He looks like he’s got some ability, but he’s quite raw,” Gluyas said.

Guru Warrior’s granddam is a mare called Proud Halo, who is the great granddam of Goldrush Guru, and given Guru Warrior is by Japanese staying stallion Saxon Warrior, a path to the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m) isn’t out of the question.

Saturday’s contest will be a good test for Guru Warrior, who is an $8.50 chance and will again be ridden by South Australian based apprentice Taylor Johnstone, in a race where eight of the 14 are last start winners.

“It’s big in numbers, and there’s a lot of maiden winning form coming through it. There’s a lot of lightly raced horses that seem like they’re in form, now they’re over ground, so he’s sort of in that category,” Gluyas said.

Guru Warrior will be accompanied to Flemington by in-form four-year-old mare Seeking Stardom, who is a $4.60 hope having won three of four starts this preparation, also to be ridden by Johnstone.

“She’s had a pretty good prep in Adelaide, she’s won three of four, so we’re just sort of testing her at fillies and mares, sort of 78 level, she’s drawn well, so I’m excited to see her,” Gluyas said.

“She’s just come up at a, just at an awkward time of year, if you like, but she’s sort of found that she was black type placed through our carnival, and she’s racing well, so we’ll see where she takes us as well.”