Valley Return For Talented Sprinter Kuro
- Thursday, 03 September 2015 07:19
A pleasing Moonee Valley workout from Kuro and a good barrier draw has trainer Lee Freedman looking forward to the sprinter's debut for his stable in the McEwen Stakes.
Kuro won six of his 13 starts for Sydney trainer Joe Pride and placed in two Group Ones last season in the Coolmore Stud Stakes and Oakleigh Plate.
Kuro's owners transferred the four-year-old to Lee and Anthony Freedman to be trained in Melbourne where there are Group One spring sprinting options for the stallion prospect.
The son of Denman runs first-up in Saturday's Group Two McEwen (1000m) and shares the second line of betting at $6.50 with Godolphin three-year-old Furnaces behind $2.25 favourite Chautauqua who has drawn barrier 12.
Freedman took Kuro to Moonee Valley for a gallop on Tuesday and the horse ran his last 400m in 23.60secs, the fastest of the morning's gallops at the track.
The trainer believes barrier two will give Kuro his chance to run well despite having improvement in him.
"There's a bit of improvement in him yet but this is a good race to get him going in and fortunately he's got a nice draw where he's going to get cover," Freedman said.
"He'll be pretty effective. That's his trip, around about the 1000 metres, and he got around the Valley really good in his work on Tuesday morning."
The Group One Moir Stakes (1000m) early next month is on the radar.
"Particularly if he shows a liking for the Valley," Freedman said.
The Darley Classic at Flemington is another spring option.
"We don't want to give him a big spring," Freedman said.
"We're concentrating more on races like the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket in the autumn."
