After securing his initial Group Two success lately, trainer Ben Brisbourne refuses to sit idle and aims for additional achievements with two-year-olds.
The trainer from Wangaratta plans to dispatch his lightly raced filly Salann to the Listed Fernhill Mile (1600m) at Randwick this Saturday, targeting the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) the week after.
Sired by Shamus Award, Salann made her debut appearance in the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) at Flemington, closing strongly to claim second place behind the dominant victor Satono Glow.
After a strong workout at home on Tuesday, Brisbourne felt assured about stepping Salann up directly to a mile.
“We were just seeing how she’d gallop, but she galloped a treat so we’re just confirming all the things now,” Brisbourne said.
“She galloped over 1000 metres, quickened up the last 600 with an older horse as a bunny and got to the older horse real easy, and that wasn’t the impressive part, it was when it took the rider half a mile to pull her up.
“She got home super on debut, we knew that 1200 (metres) was going to be on the sharp side for her, we were just hoping to see her finish going forward and picked up a stakes placing on her debut, and she’s trained on well.”
Originally considering Salann as more of a speedy two-year-old type, Brisbourne has grown increasingly certain based on recent observations that she will handle longer distances in due course.
“We always thought she was a jump-and-run two-year-old and she was sort of our sharper type,” Brisbourne said.
“But the more we’ve been getting through the jump outs and the trials, the more the feedback was she’d be a lovely 1,400-metre horse and beyond.”
With Grinzinger Heart taking out the Group 2 VRC Sires (1400m) at long odds, Salann has the opportunity to surpass her stable companion should they meet in the Champagne Stakes as planned.
“I think she’s going that well, and we’ve got in the back of our minds that if she is as strong a stayer as we think she is as a two-year-old, if she ran well, she’d go into that with the view of backing up the following week in the Champagne,” Brisbourne said.
“Grinzinger Heart is great as well, she’s trialling Wednesday at Wagga and she goes to the Champagne as well.
“Last year we only had maybe one or two two-year-old runners, this year we haven’t really got the stock either but the two we’ve got to the races are stakes level already.
“I’d love a hundred yearlings to walk into the stable every year but it just doesn’t happen so we’ll try and do the best with what we’ve got.”
Salann is listed at $8 in all-in markets for the Fernhill Mile, with Tyler Schiller secured to partner her.
Explore the Australian betting sites for the latest racing odds on the Fernhill Mile.