Last season's champion juvenile will return in Saturday's Listed Westbury Stud Northland Breeders' Stakes at Ruakaka and trainer Johno Benner said the colt was forward to resume.
"It's hard turning a good two-year-old into a better three-year-old, but I'm
very happy with him and he's showing us all the right signs."If he can win at Ruakaka then we've got the option of putting him on the airplane for Australia the following Wednesday."
Vespa holds a nomination for the $A1 million Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 11.
"Obviously it's a tough pool of horses to race against, but if he won this weekend then I think we would be stupid not to go and have a crack at them," Benner said.
"He's a Group One-winning colt and any black type in Australia would boost his value as a future stallion and that's the aim with him."
Vespa was a $34,000 Karaka purchase for his owners Chris Rutten and John Norwood and won four of his six starts last season with victories in the Gr.1 Diamond Stakes and the Listed Karaka Million stamping him as the country's top first-season performer by a distance.
He was ridden in both of his feature Ellerslie wins by Mark Du Plessis, who will be reunited with the son of Elusive City again on Saturday.
Benner said Vespa had done particularly well during his time away and would present a changed horse at Ruakaka.
"He's bigger now and he's a lot stronger. He really has furnished into a lovely horse." – NZ Racing Desk.
