Leading trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman produced a readymade replacement for their star two year-old Gasoline at Te Teko on Wednesday.
They sold Gasoline to Hong Kong earlier this month hoping they had ready made replacement by Pluck back home at their Cambridge stables.
Pluck That may well be it. Pluck That had finished fourth on debut in the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) and started an odds-on favourite second-up in today’s Coquetdale Trust Stakes (1200m). Ridden like the best horse in the race by Michael Coleman, he went on a searching run to circle the leaders approaching the home turn and kept kicking to deny Sensitive Smile (Murtajill) by a neck.
The Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) at Otaki is an obvious target on July 30. “He’s still immature,” Forsman said. “We will wait and see how he comes through today before making a decision on the Ryder.”
Pluck That is the first foal of unraced mare Spirit Of Karlu (Dubawi). Second-dam Devil’s Marble (Danehill) is a half-sister to Stella Cadente (G1 Australia Stakes) and another close relation is Vinery homebred Benicio (G1 Victoria Derby).
Pluck stands alongside his sire More Than Ready at Vinery for a $9,900 (inc gst) service fee. He won the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (1600m) at Churchill Downs and has sired first-crop winners in Australia, NZ and South Africa.
