The new boys in town, Daqiansweet Junior and Hezashocka, are on track to go head to head in the $600,000 Group One Queensland Derby.
Co-trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Foresman plan to start Daqiansweet Junior over 2000m at Rosehill this Saturday in the 3YO Benchmark 72, with Rory Hutchings engaged to ride. The favourable weather forecast should produce a nice even surface and give him every opportunity to be in the finish and progress to Brisbane.
Backing horses up into Derby’s is somewhat of a specialty for the Baker/Foresman duo, who have a proven record of one-week turnaround victories.
Proven formulas might be the theme for this year’s Queensland Derby, with this not being the first occasion OTI has imported a New Zealand bred to take on the Group One feature. In 2012, New Zealand bred Brambles dominated the Brisbane Carnival with three back-to-back wins culminating in his Derby victory.
Fellow kiwi import, Hezashocka is the most recent OTI stayer to arrive on Australian shores, landing in Brisbane earlier this month into the care of Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.
To ensure the best result for the lightly-raced three-year-old, the Price/Kent team are taking a more conservative approach in limiting his preparation to track gallops ahead of his Australian debut in the Queensland Derby.
“He has a lot of residual fitness, and he is a nice clean winded horse. It is the right approach with the horse to let him settle in and start in the Derby on his way up,” said OTI General Manager Shayne Driscoll.
“We expect a good showing from him, though I think we will see this horse’s potential throughout the spring”.
All being well, we expect to see Daqiansweet Junior run well on Saturday before joining Hezashocka in the Group One Queensland Derby on Saturday, May 29.
