Gold chases maiden win at Flemington

Gavin Bedggood is looking forward to gaining a clearer insight into Yamashita’s Gold’s potential when the colt lines up in Saturday’s VRC Member Sarah Hart Trophy (1000m) at Flemington.

The son of Wootton Bassett is still chasing his maiden win, but Bedggood has shown confidence in the horse’s talent, running him in both the Blue Diamond Preview and Prelude at his first two starts.

On debut, Yamashita’s Gold ran second to Shining Smile despite some unruly pre-race behaviour, but his second run saw him finish near the tail after possibly training off.

“To run as well as he did at his first start after the performance he put on pre-race, I thought he did a really good job,” Bedggood said.

“Every time he saw the white pony, he got upset, but he’s been no issue since.

“He had shown us really good ability at the jump-outs and at home and he’s just got to go to the races now and put it all together.”

He resumed last month in an 1113m maiden at Sale, finishing fifth behind Lamassu on a heavy track – a run Bedggood labelled inconclusive.

“It was a car crash at Sale,” Bedggood said. “He ran into plenty of luck, and all of it was bad, and the run was inconclusive as well because of the heavy track.”

“Jamie Mott galloped him two Tuesday’s ago and didn’t think he was that effective in it (heavy ground), but Jamie Melham galloped him on Tuesday and said he worked a treat and felt great in the ground.”

“So, I’m not sure what to think about all that, but you wouldn’t think you would be running into heavy ground at Flemington on Saturday.”

“It should be ideal, and I would be disappointed if he didn’t go there and run well off his work.”

Jamie Melham takes the ride aboard Yamashita’s Gold at Flemington.

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