Promising three-year-old The Irishman has been sold to Hong Kong interests and has been transferred to the care of Sydney conditioner Mark Newnham.
The Irishman had three starts in New Zealand for former trainer Tony Pike, for whom he won on debut at Avondale in September and finished runner-up in the Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day in his last start in his homeland.
The son of Tavistock has only just arrived in Sydney, but Newnham said he is pleased with what he has seen so far.
“He got here last night,” Newnham said. “He’s a promising horse. He probably hasn’t been out to his optimum distance yet, but he looks a nice horse and he has arrived in good shape.
“He was ready to run in the Karaka Million, so he is fairly well up to the mark and I will probably trial him here in a couple of weeks’ time.”
While he will spend the immediate future in Australia, Newnham said he will likely head to Hong Kong at some point.
“He has been bought by a new Hong Kong client. I am not sure whether he is here for a long time, but I would say his future is probably in Hong Kong,” Newnham said.
“We will race him here through the carnival and see what he can do.
“We had our major nominations this morning, so I have pretty much put him in everything and we will work it out as we go.”
