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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Mark Newnham says he has plenty to work with between now and when he leaves for Hong Kong with promising three-year-old Lavish Empire who returns from a freshen up at Warwick Farm on Monday.

Trainer Mark Newnham.

The gelding is one of three runners Newnham saddles up in the Proven Thoroughbreds Handicap (1100m), along with Yiska and Shadow Vampire.

Lavish Empire kicked off his career with a 7-1/2 length win at Canterbury in early January then jumped straight to Benchmark 72 grade and was run down in the shadows by Lucky Variety.

“It was hard to take much out of the first win being a heavy track and four runners at Canterbury but he backed it up on a soft 5 at his next start,’’ Newnham said.

“He’s shown above average talent already and he’s drawn well. He’s got a couple of ratings points to move and he’ll end up at a good level.”

One aspect of Lavish Empire’s form that Newnham wants to highlight is his last placing behind Passive Aggressive in his only trial appearance – aside from the quality in the trial he was missing a crucial set of gear.

“He’s always been a horse that doesn’t give much away in his work,’’ Newnham said.

“But when you put a set of blinkers on him and ask him a little bit he certainly responds. I wouldn’t take much from the trial the other day because I trialled him without the blinkers.”

Yiska is a new addition to Newnham’s stable, he was formerly with Lee Freedman in Queensland, and he’s taking a cautious approach to the three-year-old’s first-up run despite the benefit of two trials.

And he said to keep an eye on Shadow Vampire with a view to a 1000m race later this month.

“Yiska is quite a strong worker so we’ve concentrated on getting him to switch off a little bit,’’ he said.

“He’s drawn a good gate to get cover and I’d say he’ll benefit from whatever he does.

“Shadow Vampire is a horse that needs cover, his best runs are 1000m with cover and he may not get that in this race.”

Newnham has wiped the slate clean with Money From The Sky who has his first run as a gelding in the ACY Securities Handicap (1400m).

The four-year-old has shown plenty of ability but in the trainer’s eyes has underachieved with just two wins from 11 starts. That said he’s prepared to make a fresh start with the ‘gear change’.

“We’ll go back to the start and trust him again until he tells us otherwise,’’ he said.

Lavish Empire runs second at Randwick in January

“Talent has never been in question but his consistency has. Last time in I thought I had him worked out and he won very well at Warwick Farm then the next start he didn’t compete at all early in the race and was strong late.

“His work has been to his usual standard, is trials have been good. I’m expecting him to run to his ability which would put him in the finish.”

Newnham expects to have his final runners around the Scone carnival in just over a month.

All the entries, form and replays for Monday’s Warwick Farm meeting