This weekend at Caulfield, OTI is delighted to welcome back to racing Tall Ship, Master Zephyr and Kellstorm. These quality stayers are about to start long campaigns aimed at our feature spring staying races.
In his first Australian preparation, Kellstorm started racing in May 2017. In the 10 races that followed, the last being in November, he won four and placed in two others. In the process, he moved from being a 67 rated horse to the more respectable 86 when competing in the Lexus Stakes during Melbourne Cup week.
As the full brother to the English and Irish Group 1 winner, Order of St George, this son of Galileo is now poised to move into top staying handicaps. With a propensity for slightly wetter tracks, he may find himself heading to Sydney in the earlier part of the Spring Carnival for races like the Metropolitan.
Tall Ship, now seven-years-old, is the oldest of the three. Having won 7 of his 23 starts, it’s almost two years since he last appeared on the track. A tendon injury followed by niggling side issues forced him to spend almost 12 months at Lee Evison’s rehabilitation facility at Longworry, before moving onto Darren Weir’s new farm at Maldon.
In his three trials to date, Tall Ship showed all the endeavour he possessed when he was named Country horse of the Year in 2015/16. No doubt he will need to hone his race craft skills to get back into the winners’ circle.
During his last campaign, which culminated with a win at Flemington in August 2017, Master Zephyr showed that he was capable of mixing it with the best. His ill-timed injury curtailed a promising Spring Carnival. His form during that preparation indicated that he was going to be most competitive in the major spring races.
Realistically, none of the three horses is expected to feature prominently this weekend. As with most Darren Weir’s horses, a couple of runs will be required to bring their fitness levels up to the competitive standard necessary for the high grades.
The same cannot be said for Mantastic who impressed significantly finishing equal second in his first race start in Australia. This four-year-old son of Fastnet Rock moves up to the 1600m distance on Saturday where, from barrier 15, he will be challenged. However, this fellow is an exciting individual and it would not be surprising to see finish over the top of his rivals.
Along with those racing at headquarters, OTI will saddle up runners in Sydney, New Zealand and England. In Sydney, Araaja and Plymouth Road are set to contest the Listed Winter Cup at Randwick. Both horses are in great form and expected to be in the finish. Artarmon will line up in a 2400m Handicap at Newmarket (UK) early Saturday morning and Lumberjack, a 2yo son of Redwood is making his debut over in New Zealand.
