By Brad Gray
Boom colt Kementari will hog the spotlight at Monday’s Rosehill set of trials but be sure to keep an eye on the latest batch of Godolphin imports.
The trio we’ll see for the first time are Home Of The Brave, Best Of Days and Avilius. The first two are already Group winners while Avilius boasts a second to one of the world’s highest rated horses Cracksman, which was in France back in September of last year.
“We’ve given them plenty of time to acclimatize. They have been here a while so looking forward to seeing them,” said Godolphin rep Darren Beadman.
“What I’ve come to learn is that if they trial really well, like 1200m or 1400m horses, you know you have got something. Every one that we have had that has trialled over half a mile or 900m and they smoke, has gone on with it.”
Think the likes of Contributer, Hartnell and It’s Somewhat.
Paul Reid, who is another one of James Cummings' trusty lieutenants, spends his time at Osborne Park so he is as well placed as anyone to comment on how Kementari has returned.
"He looks great. He'll only have a soft trial on Monday and another one on the 23rd. He is probably a touch stronger but is still a fine, athletic horse. We haven't done much with him, keeping him on the bit but what he is doing he is doing very easily," said Reid.
"He is bouncing around and looking for the trial but has a lot of improvement on what he does.
"He hasn't gone 'colty' or anything and still looks the part."
The G2 Missile Stakes (1200m) on August 4th at Royal Randwick still looms as the likely first up target for Kementari. A win there could see any remaining slot holders up the ante to lock him in for The Everest, otherwise the G1 Epsom Handicap is on the radar.
Meanwhile, punters can expect to see Plague Stone step out at the races in the next fortnight or so. The two-year-old Lonhro colt, whose greenness saw him end his first racing campaign still a maiden, has impressed in a couple of trials.
“He has done everything right these two trials as far as his mannerisms go. If you get the first half of the trial or the race right then you’ve got him for the rest of the race,” said Beadman.
“We thought he’d be one of our main two-year-olds but when that happened from his first race start everything just went pear-shaped. He seems to have harnessed his ways.”
Check out all the results and replays for Royal Randwick on Saturday.