It has been a good few days for promising Windsor Park Stud stallion Turn Me Loose, whose three-year-old daughters Helluvah Return and Mazzini both broke maiden ranks at Wanganui on Thursday.
Helluvah Return saluted for trainer Gary Vile after racing on-speed over 1340m, while Mazzini closed over the top of her rivals to score narrowly over 1600m for trainer Peter Didham.
It comes a day after his three-year-old son Prix De Turn got off the mark at Sandown in Melbourne in dominant fashion for Cranbourne conditioner Matthew Brown, who will now ponder whether the colt backs up in next week’s Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m).
Prix De Turn bounded in the air at the start of the Gr.2 Autumn Stakes (1400m) when resuming, missing the start and eventually finishing eighth but was good from the barriers on Wednesday, taking a trail before dashing away from runner-up Savonia to score by a widening three lengths.
“The plan was to be going to the Australian Guineas second-up, but we had a bit of a disaster first-up, so that is why we had to squeeze a race in between and see where he sat,” Brown said.
“I’d love to have a crack at the Australian Guineas with him, but he is going to have to tell me in the next three or four days whether he is good to go or not.”
Brown believes Prix De Turn can sit handier in his races and circumstances have led to him being positioned back in some of his races, including when seventh in the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at his second start.
“In the Caulfield Guineas he drew the outside gate and we had no choice but to go back and then by the Carbine Club (Gr.3, 1600m) he had had enough and raced flat,” Brown said.
“He blew the start at Caulfield first-up because his mind was on other things, so we wanted to make sure that his mind was on the job yesterday and we gave him a good kick out of the gates.
“I think he will improve a hell of a lot off that, especially being able to race away from them late, which was the most encouraging thing. It is a long run in at Sandown when you’re in front from the top of the straight, but it just pleased me late the way he flattened out and really pulled away over the last 100m.”
Turn Me Loose is also the sire of last Saturday’s impressive Ellerslie juvenile winner Lickety Split, while his three-year-old daughter Ancient Girl was placed in the Gr.3 Vanity (1400m) at Flemington.
A triple Group One winning miler, Turn Me Loose is represented by 27 yearlings at the forthcoming New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, including 11 in Book 1. – NZ Racing Desk
