The Metropolitan favourite to face first Sydney test

Rosehill will see Tony and Calvin McEvoy unleash two staying prospects on Saturday, both on course for The Metropolitan (2400m). The team lines up South Australian Derby winner Coco Sun and emerging stayer Half Yours, who has been installed favourite for the Group 1.

The McEvoys are buoyed after Prestar’s midweek Kensington win and believe Half Yours has the right profile to keep stepping through the grades. Since joining the stable, he has won three of his five starts, capped by a dominant Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m) victory by 4-1/2 lengths.

“He has been incredible. He’s exciting us,” Tony McEvoy said.

“He has come through the benchmarks and then he won that Caloundra Cup really impressively.

“I don’t want to be rude about the race but I’m not sure where that sits when you start talking about ‘Metrops’ and those races, but the market has got him favourite for it so I am very buoyed by that and the horse is fabulous.

“He hasn’t been out of training so he will run in that race on Saturday and then go to the Kingston Town (Stakes) and ‘Metrop’.”

Half Yours, despite drawing wide in gate 20, has been crunched into $7 for The Metropolitan and $4 for his Rosehill engagement.

Coco Sun, meanwhile, faces her first run since the winter after coming up with barrier 18. McEvoy said she needed the run after wet weather played havoc with her trial schedule.

“We have tinkered a little bit with their preparations already with the changing of the trials so I don’t think I can change again, otherwise I am going to get too far behind with them,” he said.

“We will probably run them. Barriers win you races, don’t they? But I’ve got Ashley Morgan and the young apprentice (Braith Nock) that is riding beautifully.

“Those guys are making good decisions so I’ll just let them ride the horse and hope for a bit of luck.”

While Coco Sun hasn’t won since her Derby success, she was competitive in strong company last spring. McEvoy emphasised her need for give in the ground, noting her below-par run in the Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) when the firm track worked against her.

“She has got to start doing it race day. I couldn’t be happier with her and all the data we do is telling us she is as good as when she was ‘good’,” he said.

Coco Sun is rated a $26 shot for The Metropolitan, with McEvoy confident she will come to hand with racing.

Bettors tracking the McEvoy duo’s spring campaigns can check the latest markets via Australia’s top betting sites.