ADELAIDE trainer Chris Bieg is hopeful of last Saturday’s Morphettville Parks debut winner Excites Zelady making the cut for next months time-honoured Group 3 VRC Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) at Flemington.
A son of Vinery Stud resident sire Excites, Bieg’s gelding turned in a polished effort to come from midfield to score in what was not an entirely unexpected win for the trainer and connections.
“He is very forward and very mature for a two-year-old so I was pretty confident going into the race,” Bieg said.
“He’s strong and sensible and has copped everything we have thrown at him. So from quite early on, we said there is no reason why he can’t go as an early two-year-old.
“The closer we got to the race, the better he worked and the more you work him the better he goes.”
Excites Zelady was sold on the Gold Coast at the National Weanling Sale for $19,000 before Bieg spotted him at the Adelaide Magic Millions Yearling Sale where he picked him up for $27,000.
“We had a small group of owners with a small budget so we picked the horse that we thought we’d be able to afford,” he says.
The gelding has already won back nearly all of his purchase price with the promise of more to come, especially if he can play a role in the Maribyrnong Plate on November 10.
“He’s pulled up well and done everything right,” Bieg reported.
EXCITES’ first crop stakeswinner Flag Officer is reported to be in great shape ahead of his scheduled return to racing at Belmont on Saturday week.
The Paul Jordan trained gelding, who has already banked over $230,000 for connections, won a 1000m trial at by 1.3-lens Belmont on October 2.
Flag Officer has won from 1100m up to 1800m and was fourth in the Group 2 WATC Derby (2400m) during the autumn.
The chestnut is back in time to prepare for the Perth summer racing carnival and while Jordan hasn’t any specific target in mind as yet, that’s not to say one won’t become apparent.
“We’ll just be taking him through his campaign and he keeps raising the bar we’ll keep giving it to him,” he said.
